Real estate developer Scarborough Group International (SGI) is set to start work on the next and final phase at the acclaimed Sheffield Digital Campus (Sheffield DC). This commitment currently represents the biggest speculative office development in Sheffield city centre where the supply of modern, grade A workspace is extremely limited.
Designed by award winning architects CJCT and being constructed by GMI Construction, ‘Endeavour’ is an impressive new eight-storey, c. 67,000 sq ft, Grade A office building offering highly-efficient floorplates of up to 10,592 sq ft. A private 630 sq ft roof terrace on the 6th floor is also included to overlook the combined railway and bus station and the iconic Park Hill Flats.
Due to be delivered in Spring, 2022, it is the final of four visually impressive buildings on the Sheffield DC site. Electric Works, Ventana House and Acero have all been successfully let and subsequently sold to investors with high profile occupiers including Sky, Kennedy’s, Michael Page and Atkins and the flex-office workspace provider Spaces.
As with all buildings at Sheffield DC, the design of Endeavour will create a quality first and lasting impression and is being targeted at businesses that are looking for their workspace to provide an extension of their business’s brand and cultural identity.
Endeavour will provide premium workspace offering flexible open plan floor plates, capable of subdivision to suit a variety of business space requirements. The building has been designed to create a welcoming and impressive sense of arrival with a double height entrance reception and social space allowing visitors and colleagues to interact.
Internally Endeavour is capable of an occupancy density of 1 person: 8 sq m and the office floorplates are flooded with natural light on all four elevations with floor to ceiling glazing, ensuring that Endeavour has the comfort, productivity and sustainability of its occupants in mind.
In light of the potential impact that the pandemic may have on the future use of workspace, the design of Endeavour has been modified in response to accelerated trends for making the office environment a safer place to work with smart building integration and reduced touch points, also appreciating the increasing prevalence of agile working.
The development, which has a GDV of £27m, will create up to 140 construction jobs and house up to 800 office workers when complete and is a major vote of confidence in Sheffield city centre, where the supply of existing and pipeline office space has diminished, leaving a major shortage of space to cater to existing and future demand.
Adam Varley, Head of Commercial at Scarborough Group International, said:
“We are delighted to announce our commitment to deliver this final building which will complete our promise to provide nearly a quarter of a million sq ft of prime business space at Sheffield DC. The scheme has and continues to prove successful, establishing a new office quarter in a super-prime location next to the city’s major transport hubs and in the centre of the development framework for new HS2 Midlands Station.
“In promoting Endeavour, we recognise the creative reputation of the city which is celebrated for innovation, pioneers and academic achievement. As well as delivering a landmark, efficient and productive working environment, we want to deliver a building that people will be proud to say this is where I work.
“The scheme clearly supports an ongoing demand for new, high quality, and flexible accommodation in the city centre, and whilst the way we work is evolving in light of the pandemic and accelerated digital transformation, the office still serves a valuable purpose for team cohesion, motivation and productivity.”
Scarborough Group International is one of the most active developers across the Northern Powerhouse, with over 3m sq ft of commercial/mixed-use space under development over 524 acres of land.
Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic the Group has maintained its ‘Keep Building’ ethos, continuing to deliver transformational schemes that breathe life back into the North’s former industrial heartlands to support the Government’s ‘Levelling-up’ agenda, which will see the relocation of up to 49,500 civil servants from Whitehall in the most radical shake-up of its geographical footprint in living history.
Simon McCabe, CEO of SGI, commented:
“As a family business with its roots firmly entrenched in the north of England, we are extremely proud of our heritage and our work to accelerate the resilience and prosperity of our great region.
“The scale of our development activities across the key northern cities of Sheffield, Manchester and Leeds is unparalleled, and reflects our commitment and ambition to the Northern Powerhouse.
“We are genuinely excited by the Government’s plans to relocate several Whitehall departments to the north of England as part of its ‘Levelling-up’ agenda; not least because we believe our developments are uniquely-placed to accommodate some, if not all, of the 49,500 civil servants that have been earmarked to move as part of the Northern Policy Foundation review, but also the additional inward investment and indigenous growth that these government-backed relocations will help stimulate.”
