Start date confirmed for £350m mixed use scheme
Property company CEG has appointed BAM Construction to deliver the first phase of its £350m development at Globe Road, Leeds, with a start on site confirmed for 30 March.
It is the only announced speculative new build office completing in Leeds City Centre in 2021.
Known as Globe Point, this first development totals 37,798 sq ft over seven floors and incorporates office space with ground floor break out space, retail and leisure. Its design by award-winning Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios, will be the first “flat iron building” to be built in Leeds since the design was conceived in the city in 1875.
The Flat Iron building in New York is famed worldwide for its unique pointed design and frequently hailed as the first of its kind. However, the Bridge House in Leeds was constructed 27 years prior to the New York building. Now, 145 years later, CEG celebrates the return of this design to its architectural home.
Nick Lee, development director of CEG, said: “We have taken a different approach to the design of our first development at Temple, with occupiers front of mind. We are harnessing everything we have learnt about what our customers need for their business to thrive and will deliver it in a contemporary, flexible and unique way.”
John Phillips, BAM’s regional director for the North East, said: “BAM is the ideal fit for CEG’s ingenious vision for Leeds. Being not only an historic company here, but also highly modern in our methods and collaborative in our approach, really matches the qualities of the building and its wider context.
“We have built many of the most recognisable buildings in the city, but you are only as good as the next one you build; and as ever, it is the quality of your relationships that drives the quality of your work. There is genuine excitement at BAM about being a part of this tremendous and far-sighted development that really connects to the soul of the city.”
While phase one will be complete by spring/summer 2021, CEG is already working on the detailed design of its second phase, One Globe Square, which has reserved matters planning permission for 135,481 sq ft of offices with ground floor retail and leisure.
As well as offering corporate and headquarter space, CEG will deliver its studio concept, offering all-inclusive flexible, fully furnished and comms ready workspace with kitchens, break-out and meeting areas for small and medium sized businesses.
Paul Fox, director of property agency Fox Lloyd Jones, said: “There is an acute supply gap of new and refurbished Grade A office buildings in Leeds. We are also seeing rising demand, particularly following Channel 4’s announcement that the city would be its new headquarters.
“Of the Grade A stock currently available, which typically accounts for 60% of total take up, headquarter-style properties under 50,000 sq ft are limited to just a handful of options. This undersupply, combined with Temple’s unrivalled location, just minutes’ walk from Leeds City Station and the commitment to build speculatively, is very exciting, and we are engaging with pre-let interest.”
CEG also has outline planning permission for further development of up to 1.1m sq ft of offices, shops, cafés, restaurants, bars, hotel and up to 750 new homes.
The developments will be at the heart of Temple, a new district within the city centre which forms a key part of the South Bank Regeneration Area of Leeds, close to Leeds Railway Station. It includes the 8.69 acre sites around Water Lane and Globe Road which CEG secured planning permission for last year, as well as the historic Grade I listed Temple Works, which was acquired in early 2018.
Stirling prize winning architects firm Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios is working with CEG to masterplan Temple.
