Building Briefs: Pure Gym; Keepmoat; Leeds College of Building; HPC

PURE Gym, Town Centre Securities’ anchor tenant for its leisure scheme at the Merrion Centre in the Arena Quarter in Leeds, has opened its doors to members.

Spread over 21,000 sq ft, the state-of-the-art 24 hour, 7 days a week fitness facility is Pure Gym’s second facility in Leeds.

Helen Green, associate director of estates for Town Centre Securities, said: “This new city centre gym is located in the northern office core and is close to the civic quarter and university campuses. The large numbers of people who work in this part of the city centre, many of whom are accommodated in our own buildings in Town Centre House, Wade House and Merrion House, now benefit from a gym on their doorstep.

“This is also a much-needed facility for students wanting an affordable place to work-out. It’s great to see the first of a number of openings planned over the coming months, creating a new leisure destination to suit every age and pocket, right next to the First Direct Arena in the heart of the Arena Quarter.”

Town Centre Securities’ multi-million pound scheme on Merrion Way will be a leisure destination with bars, cafes, restaurants as well as Pure Gym along Merrion Way and Wade Lane.

The development also includes public realm works that will allow for an outdoor area designed for continental -style street café seating. The development also incorporates the 1,000 space multi-storey car park, operated by Town Centre Car Parks, which will undergo a complete refurbishment and upgrade.

Meanwhile Town Centre Securities has signed up a new tenant for the Merrion Centre.

Bags4U, a budget luggage retailer, which currently has 17 other shops in the UK, has chosen the Merrion Centre in Leeds’ Arena Quarter for its first shop in Yorkshire.

Bags4U, which opened this week, has been trading for 20 years and stocks up to 50 different luggage ranges including Compass, Explorer and ITP brands as well as handbags and other travel goods.

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REGENERATION specialist Keepmoat has been named as Britain’s top contractor in September after winning £431m of work.

According to the latest figures from construction business intelligence unit, Glenigan, the top 50 contractors shared more than £2bn of work in total, with Doncaster-based Keepmoat accounting for almost a fifth of that amount.

Second placed Laing O’Rouke won £180m of work in the same period.

Keepmoat’s place at the top of the league table was secured after signing a £430m PFI housing regeneration contract for the Pendleton Together scheme in Salford.

The Pendleton contract is Keepmoat’s second big PFI win of the summer after the firm won a £198m contract to refurbish 1,245 properties and create 388 new homes in Leeds in July.

Nick Ash, regeneration managing director for Keepmoat, said: “As a business we were delighted to be named the top contractor for September after securing Keepmoat’s second major PFI win of the summer.

“The Pendleton contract is a landmark project for Keepmoat in the North West and is testament to the great reputation we have built up in the area over a long period of time.”

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A GROUP of students from Leeds College of Building have put their newly learnt skills to good use and saved a leading charity almost £85,000 by transforming a previously redundant basement area into a community hub that will benefit young people from across Leeds.

The new space is at Burley Lodge Centre in Burley and is run by Better Leeds Communities which aims to create opportunities that enable people to achieve their potential by raising aspirations and developing abilities that lead to a better life.

The charity delivers a range of services across the city including advice, activities, courses, volunteering and venue hire.

Gwyn Harrup of Better Leeds Communities, said: “A group of young people who attend our United Youth group had a vision to transform our basement, which was being used as a storage area, into a community hub that can be used as an area to have fun, learn and use computers.

“They took the lead and secured funding from LandAid and Leeds Community Foundation but contractors quoted more than £100,000 for the work which was way above our budget. We decided to contact Leeds College of Building to see if they could help. Their students were keen to lend a hand and with their help we’ve managed to carry out the refurbishment to an exceptional standard within our budget so we’re delighted with the results.”

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LEEDS City Council has acquired a 13,260 sq ft detached office building in Leeds.

Acting on behalf of Kindhill, property consultants AWS handles the back to back lease surrender and sale of Kernel House on Killingbeck Drive, adjacent to Acorn Business Parkoff the A64 York Road.

Leeds City Council plan to take occupation of the building early next year following refurbishment of the building.

The acquisition of Kernel House will see Leeds City Council’s occupation in the area increase significantly and will work in conjunction with its existing adjacent sites at Killingbeck Court and Acorn Business Park.

Gina Korszanski from AWS said: “This sale shows there is increasing confidence in the out of town office market especially in the owner occupier market. The council favoured the location of Killingbeck over other out of town locations which shows confidence in the area.”

AWS acted on behalf of Kindhill for the sale and surrender, Colliers International acted for previous occupier in the surrender and Leeds City Council represented themselves.

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SHEFFIELD’S newest boutique hotel is being unveiled today.

After a £1.8m makeover, the former University of Sheffield Hall of Residence has been transformed into the Halifax Hall Hotel, set in the grounds of the University of Sheffield’s Endcliffe Village.

The hotel has been developed and managed by UNICUS, a subsidiary of the University of Sheffield.

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YORK- based specialist healthcare property consultancy HPC has hired James Richards who will join its agency team.

Richards started specialising in healthcare in 1995 and has worked with major international surveying firms, having previously run his own agency and consultancy.

He relocated from Cardiff to join the York team and will develop HPC’s private client business as the company continues to expand its transactional and consultancy services.

HPC director Ian Wilkie said: “Both my co-director Nigel Newton Taylor and I have worked alongside James in the past and have no doubt that his professionalism and market knowledge will enhance the service we can offer to our clients. We are delighted to welcome him to the team as we continue the growth we have seen over recent months.”