£52m office building programme gets under way
Ground-breaking works have begun at Thorpe Park Leeds to deliver a 133,118 sq ft office building.
Scarborough Group International (SGI) has started work on site. It is constructing a seven-floor property which has already been pre-let to credit management company, Lowell, and has a gross development value of £52m.
Representatives from both SGI and Lowell met to mark the official ground-breaking with GMI Construction, principal contractor for the project, just weeks after funding was secured for the project through OakNorth Bank.
GMI expects to complete the building by September 2022, ready for the tenant to start fit-out works before it relocates in 2023.
The pre-let to Lowell represents the largest single out of town office deal ever recorded in West Yorkshire and the biggest property transaction in the Northern Powerhouse region over the last 12 months.
Lowell has agreed a 15-year lease to occupy the building and will relocate its UK headquarters from two sites at Leeds Valley Park.
The property has been designed by architects, Carey Jones Chapman Tolcher.
Kevin McCabe, chairman at SGI, said: “We continue to engage with businesses seeking to locate at Thorpe Park Leeds, some of which are existing occupiers looking to expand.
“And we remain committed to our ambition to deliver further phases of office development to ensure Thorpe Park maintains and advances its position within the Northern Powerhouse as the flagship location for business, employment and quality of life.”
Lee Powell, divisional managing director of GMI Construction Group, said: “We are delighted to start on site with our next significant project at Thorpe Park Leeds as we maintain our long-term and trusted partnership with SGI to deliver phase two.
“The scale of delivery is considerable and as principal contractor we are excited to be working closely with the entire delivery team to build the biggest single office building in Leeds out of town history.”
Lisa Wragg, head of office services at Lowell, added: “This building is the culmination of many months of tireless work by all involved to get it to this stage.
“We’re really excited to see the construction of our new home finally starting to take shape and look forward to celebrating the next milestone in due course.”
Thorpe Park Leeds is an already well-established business location.
More than 900,000 sq ft of office space has been built here, supporting over 5,500 jobs and The Springs retail and leisure park sits at the core of the business community with a line-up of major high street brands along with a range of smaller, independent retail and leisure businesses.
Further development plans include the delivery of a 113-acre public park with sports and wellbeing facilities for the community of the Leeds City Region and beyond.
