M&G Real Estate, one of the UK’s largest property investors, alongside its development partner Marrico Asset Management, has reached practical completion at its 217,810 sq ft ‘Central Square’ office development in the heart of Leeds.
Central Square, the largest speculative office building ever to open in Leeds, has been developed in response to market demand for a city centre development with high quality, sustainable office space. The development offers the largest individual floor plates in Leeds, which are appropriate for the different requirements of a variety of tenants.
Two new deals have been secured for the ground floor, including Marks & Spencer, which will occupy a 4,696 sq ft store on a 15-year lease and European-style coffee house brand, Caffè Nero having taken a 1,733 sq ft unit on a 10-year leases.
The scheme’s anchor tenant PwC, which has signed a 15-year lease for 49,621 sq ft, moved 750 staff into the building last week. They will be joined by accountancy professional services network, RSM, who has signed a 15-year lease for 25,424 sq ft and will relocate 350 of its staff to its new office in June 2017.
Commenting, Sam Jones, Asset Manager at M&G Real Estate says: “Central Square will deliver much-needed high-quality office space in Leeds. Following practical completion, we are pleased to announce our first two lettings for the retail and leisure space on the ground floor. We expect the new state-of-the-art offices and associated amenities to attract further tenants and contribute to the creation of a new city centre destination.”
Commenting, Mark Barnes, Managing partner at Marrico Asset Management says: “We appointed architects DLA to design a building that provides large office plates, not available elsewhere in Leeds, and incorporated a vibrant mix of retail and leisure. The architectural design sympathetically respects the Conservation Area and yet incorporates striking fully glazed elevations. Without doubt Central Square is a “City of London” building, which is a market leader both in terms of scale and the exceptional quality of finishes adopted throughout.
“We worked closely with PWC to design an iconic building that met their requirements. It is a credit to the whole team that we have achieved BREEAM Outstanding. With innovation at the heart it is the very first speculative office development to have the use of a low Carbon Gasification CHP.
Commenting, Christopher D Richmond, Head of Real Estate at PwC says: “The project itself was a 3-year partnership that saw unprecedented collaboration at every stage of the build process. PwC saw an opportunity with the design process to work with the developer and their architect to take a blank sheet of paper and raise the bar with the aim of delivering a landmark sustainable building and in doing so create a truly vibrant, inspiring and flexible workplace for our people.
“Rarely are world class office buildings such as Central Square conceived and constructed outside London and it is a testament to all parties and their professional teams working together to deliver exemplar quality, performance and design.”
“At PwC we are conscious of our business impact on our people, clients, suppliers, society and the environment. Sustainability takes many forms including reappraising our working practices, to investing in new technologies that reduce our consumption of resources, such as renewable energy technologies. Central Square supports these ideals of continuous improvement, innovation and best place to work”.
Sanderson Weatherall and JLL represented M&G Real Estate for the office lettings and JLL acted for M&G Real Estate for the retail lettings.
