Building Briefs: Bruntwood; Leeds Station; Building Interiors; Savills; Homes for Students; Marrtree
PROPERTY developer Bruntwood has appointed Harrogate-based creative consultancy SoVibrant to design the business lounge, meeting and event space, and studios for its City House development in Leeds.
Design work is already underway for these spaces, which will be ready for when City House opens its doors in May 2017.
Craig Burrow, director at Bruntwood in Leeds, said: “It is important to Bruntwood that we engage with local businesses where possible, so we are very pleased that we will be working with SoVibrant on the interior design of these elements of City House.”
Stephen Murray, head of interiors at SoVibrant, added: “This is one of Leeds’ best-known buildings and we’re delighted to be involved in shaping its future – it really is an exciting project for SoVibrant. Working collaboratively with Bruntwood, we’re already looking at how the building’s users, processes, technology and spaces will integrate and interact, now and in the future. This will allow us to ensure the best use of space available and deliver that high specification scheme worthy of such a prestigious location.”
The 120,000 sq ft, 12-storey City House building sits above Leeds train station.
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LEEDS STATION’S recently-opened Southern Entrance has won an ‘ICE’ Yorkshire and Humber Civil Engineering Award.
Welcoming the news, West Yorkshire combined authority chairman Coun Peter Box, said: “This Centenary Award from the Institution of Civil Engineers is recognition of the excellent work by the West Yorkshire Combined Authority team and those of our partners Leeds City Council, Network Rail and the DfT to overcome the considerable challenges presented by building the impressive structure over the River Aire.
“Leeds Station Southern Entrance is now providing the growing numbers of commuters who work in the growing south of city centre with direct access to Granary Wharf and beyond. It is saving them up to 50 minutes on their weekly commute and will also relieve congestion at the existing tickets gates.”
He added: “Up to one fifth of the station’s 100,000 daily users are expected to benefit from the new £20m entrance. It has opened up access to an area that is already home to ASDA’s UK headquarters and the location of Eversheds, EY, and DWF’s regional HQs and a regeneration area which has attracted major new investment and with the potential to support over 30,000 jobs and 4,000 new homes.”
The ICE Yorkshire and Humber Civil Engineering Awards recognise excellent and imaginative concepts in civil engineering practice across the Yorkshire and Humber region and the Centenary award is for projects £5m and over.
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SAVILLS has announced three promotions in its Leeds office.
In the housing valuation team, Catherine Smith has been promoted to associate director and will relocate to the firm’s Margaret Street office in London from May.
Dot Tyrtania, of the same team, will move up to associate level. Both provide valuation advice to a range of housing associations across the North.
Joanne Lenton of the property management department has also been promoted to associate. She provides support to the nine-strong team based in Leeds, including assisting with the general management of properties, client reporting and arranging inspections.
Paul Fairhurst, head of Savills Leeds, said: “Catherine, Dot and Joanne have consistently delivered an excellent performance, contributing to the success of their teams and the wider Leeds office. I would like to congratulate each of them on their very well deserved promotions.”
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BUILDING INTERIORS, a Leeds-based office fit out and refurbishment company, has appointed a new commercial director.
James Reeve will be responsible for developing key commercial opportunities for the business as well as overseeing delivery on client projects from concept design and estimation through to full delivery and completion.
Ian Brough, Building Interiors managing director, said: “James is very well respected within the commercial property sector and has proven to be a reliable individual who delivers results, I am very pleased he is on board and look forward to watching him grow with the company.”
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STUDENT housing management specialist Homes for Students has secured a contract to provide accommodation and facilities management services to 25 purpose-built student accommodation properties for up to five years.
The portfolio of properties is owned by Singapore-headquartered Mapletree Investments Pte, which recently acquired the assets from the Mansion Student Accommodation Fund.
The 5,500-bed portfolio is located across 12 cities in the UK – Aberystwyth, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leicester, Lincoln, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Nottingham, Oxford and Sheffield. Five assets are in London.
Homes for Students, based in Harrogate, will provide a full range of services including sales and marketing, rent collection and financial management, tenancy management, total facilities management including helpdesk and reception, life cycle and asset management, energy management and commercial tenancy management.
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HARROGATE developer Marrtree Developments has sold a 1.3 acre greenfield residential site at Shelf, near Halifax, to housebuilder Mandale Homes for £650,000.
The Valley Close site, which has permission for 13 family homes, is located in the commuter belt of both Bradford and Halifax, and the housebuilder will be breaking ground this month to build the three-and-four-bedroom homes.
Stockton-on-Tees-based Mandale Homes specialises in building small development sites across Yorkshire and the North East. This will be the homebuilder’s fourth Yorkshire site currently under development, with other similar scale residential projects in Doncaster, Pontefract, Wakefield.
The Marrtree group of companies is run by brothers William and George Marshall and has developed Yorkshire sites for commercial and residential use for over 30 years.
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BARNSLEY COLLEGE’S Construction Centre, also known as The Cube, has officially opened.
The grand opening of the £10.8m building began with a welcome by the principal of Barnsley College, Christopher Webb, followed by a speech from Lord David Blunkett who spoke about memories of his time as a tutor at the college.
Mr Webb said: “We would like to thank Lord David Blunkett for coming along to officially open our new site. It was an excellent way to mark the new chapter for our construction students.
“With a projected skills shortage in the construction industries this is the perfect time for Barnsley College to invest in construction education. The new building houses some fantastic industry specialist facilities in order to provide our students with as much ‘real life’ experience as possible. It offers education in all the necessary skills so that our students can really build on their construction careers.”
