£41m Merrion House revamp gets underway

DEVELOPER Town Centre Securities has appointed a contractor to deliver the £41m refurbishment of Merrion House.

BAM Construction will deliver the remodelling of the 1960s office building which until recently was occupied by employees of Leeds City Council.

BAM will also be responsible for fitting out the building. The council has a relocation strategy during the construction phase and on completion will consolidate some of its smaller offices into these new premises.

Merrion House is a 10-floor structure situated within the Merrion shopping centre. The programme includes an element of new build over seven and eight storeys to increase the floor area and capacity.

Merrion Centre is one of four office buildings that house more than 2000 people including Town Centre House, a scheme where Town Centre Securities also used BAM; and next to the BAM-built Leeds Arena.

Kelvin Pollard, BAM’s construction director, said: “The first phase of works is to strip down the pre-cast panels leaving the concrete frame. This is a controlled de-construction rather than a demolition and it will take two tower cranes to achieve it.

“Then we will re-clad the building into a fully glazed and curtain walled structure. There are several complex aspects to the works, both the structural works and the M&E require particular expertise and experience. BAM’s specialist services engineering business will help us deliver what will be a striking transformation. This is going to be a very visible building as you enter the city of Leeds from the north.”

BAM is employing Building Information Modelling (BIM) to assist its planning.

The scheme is valued at around £41m and is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2017.