Oakapple underway with £19m mixed-use scheme

YORKSHIRE-based Oakapple Group has boosted its team as work gets underway on a £19m mixed-use scheme.

Jason Papprill has been brought on board as development manager by the Leeds-based group to manage the scheme, which has seen Oakapple award the £7.6m contract to build new 10,000sq ft offices and 40 luxury apartments in Clapham to Surrey-based Marbank Construction.

The entire grade A office complex has been pre-let to global lift and escalator company, Kone, while all the apartments have been sold off-plan.

Papprill joins from Hull-based construction company Hobson & Porter, where he was CEO.

He has extensive experience managing large scale developments and has worked across a diverse range of sectors including residential, retail, commercial, leisure and healthcare.

In addition to managing the Clapham scheme, Papprill will deliver a significant development pipeline for the group.

This includes a number of robust residential and commercial projects, the key one being the 100,000 sq ft of grade A office space on Sweet Street in Leeds city centre, as well as a number of retail developments in the North.

Papprill said: “I am very pleased to have joined the Oakapple team as I admire its entrepreneurial and forward thinking approach. Rather than put things on hold during the property slump it continued to develop a land bank in readiness for the recovery and also diversified into other areas with growth potential, such as solar power.

“I am therefore looking forward to putting my skills and experience into practice to help the group enjoy success following the recession.”

Commenting on the state of the property market, chairman of Oakapple Group, Philip Taylor, says: “It has been an extremely difficult six year period but it is now beginning to settle down. More operators are coming into the market seeking new properties and, with banks beginning to lend again, developers can now start to develop to relieve this pent up demand. We are therefore being proactive in our search for new opportunities.

“Although it certainly looks more positive I do not believe it will return to the heady days of seven years ago.”