Scarborough Group International (SGI) has secured planning consent from Leeds City Council to build a state of the art 133,118 sq ft HQ office building at Thorpe Park Leeds. The news comes as the Yorkshire developer announces plans for the next significant stage of development at the award-winning destination.
Despite the current economic climate, SGI has committed to deliver over 195,000 sq ft of new business accommodation that has potential to support over 3000 jobs within the next two years, with a total Gross Development Value in excess of £71m.
With site preparation now started, Scarborough has appointed GMI Construction to build two landmark Grade A office buildings situated around the new Green Park area and adjacent to The Springs retail and leisure park. Both building are under negotiation with occupiers.
The new HQ office building is to be of landmark design and constructed in line with the very latest human health and wellbeing standards. A further new 60,000 sq ft office building, for which consent was secured earlier this year, will be built to overlook Central Park. Both are to be located close to the planned Thorpe Park Leeds railway station.
Alongside the existing 20,000 sq ft of workspace which is immediately available to let in the ‘Lumina’ building, Thorpe Park Leeds will provide a supply of Grade A office space unlike anywhere else in the Leeds City Region, capable of accommodating a wide range of business space requirements.
Adam Varley, Head of Commercial Assets at Scarborough Group International said,
“We are excited to be making progress with our plans at Thorpe Park Leeds which will transform the location and act as a catalyst to create the largest and most attractive out of town mixed use community in the region.
“Indeed, with over £100 million already invested, through our joint venture partners Legal & General Capital, into new infrastructure and the exemplary ‘The Springs Leeds’ retail and leisure destination, together with confirmation of a dedicated new railway station on site, the building blocks are already in place for the evolution of what was regarded as an office destination into a brand new mixed use community in East Leeds.”
In a significant departure from the traditional business park design, the travel strategy at Thorpe Park Leeds will be to centralise car parking into multi-storey transport hubs and incorporate extensive facilities to support more sustainable travel, including electric vehicle car charging stations and cycle hubs. This allows for more fluid and pedestrian friendly public realm to be developed, reducing the impact of car parking on the design, and placing greater emphasis on the quality of the environment.
Further investment will also be made into the surrounding landscape as Redrow continues to advance with the development of its new luxury homes at the park.
Mark Jackson, Development Director at Scarborough Group International said,
“Thorpe Park Leeds is a flagship project for the Northern Powerhouse and our commitment to invest further, even in these uncertain economic times, shows our faith in the strength of the city of Leeds, Yorkshire, and the North.
“As a company our mantra for 2020 has been ‘Keep on Building’, and we remain committed to our other Northern Powerhouse projects, especially our major schemes in Sheffield and Manchester. This represents spending commitments of at least £120 million over the next 2 years on projects with a long term GDV value of well over £1 billion.”
Thorpe Park Leeds is already a well-established business location, strategically located with its own dedicated access at Junction 46 of the M1. More than 800,000 sq ft of office space is already built supporting over 5,500 jobs and The Springs retail and leisure park sits at the core of the park with a line-up of major businesses including Next, M&S, ODEON Luxe, Pure Gym, Boots, H&M and TK Maxx.
Further development plans include the delivery of a 113-acre public park with sports & well-being facilities for the community of the Leeds City Region and beyond. Scarborough is also in the process of master planning uses for the adjacent Brown Moor site and has identified potential for further residential development along with buildings which continue to support new employment opportunities.
The phase two development at Thorpe Park Leeds was enabled following a unique £162 million investment deal with Legal & General Capital in 2015. Since then a transformational 1.35 million sq ft mixed use expansion has progressed bringing exceptional new business opportunities to the Leeds City Region. It has also enabled the delivery of the first section of the ‘East Leeds Orbital Road’ (ELOR), a key piece of transport infrastructure connecting north and east Leeds to Junction 46 of the M1. This road also unlocks land for the future construction of over 7,000 new homes on the East Leeds area.
The Award-winning development has been chosen for the new railway station ‘East Leeds Parkway’ and associated Park and Ride, connecting directly to Leeds City Centre in less than 8 minutes. This forms part of a £270 million infrastructure investment into Leeds by the Department of Transport.
Appointed agents for the office space at Thorpe Park Leeds are BNP Paribas Real Estate, Cushman and Wakefield and JLL.
