Thorpe Park Leeds to house the city’s only out of town speculative office scheme

Thorpe Park Developments Ltd, a joint venture between Scarborough Group International and Legal & General Capital, has started on site with the speculative development of the first Grade A office building in phase two at Thorpe Park Leeds.

This is currently the only out of town speculative office scheme being delivered in Leeds and will be available for occupation from November 2016.

Paradigm is a 31,650 sq ft, premium ‘headquarters’ office building which sits prominently at the gateway to Thorpe Park Leeds overlooking the M1 at Junction 46.

The building is the first of a total 940,000 sq ft of new business space planned at the business park where planning consent is secured for a further 1.35 million sq ft of mixed use accommodation, bringing a significant boost to the East Leeds economy.

Development plans include a 300,000 sq ft shopping and leisure park with cinema, 300 new homes, further leisure and hotel space and 140 acres of parkland and sports facilities.

Strategic construction partner GMI Construction has advanced ground preparation with a phased delivery programme well underway.

Thorpe Park Leeds is already an 800,000 sq ft business park with over 60 occupiers including IBM, National Grid, Kier, Laing O’Rourke, Atkins, BAM and United Utilities.

Delivery of the next phase of development at Thorpe Park Leeds follows last year’s announcement that Legal & General Capital were to invest £162m as joint development partner.

Mark Jackson, consultant at Scarborough Group International, said: “We are pleased to announce the start on site for Paradigm which is the first of a new era of office buildings at Thorpe Park Leeds.

“Occupiers now want more from today’s business park which means that on site amenities that support wellbeing and a sense of community are just as important as location and connectivity. We believe that Thorpe Park Leeds’ new vision has all of the right ingredients to provide a sustainable business location for occupiers for the long term.”

JLL, Cushman & Wakefield and BNP Paribas Real Estate are appointed to market Paradigm.

Jeff Peary, lead director for Yorkshire and the North East at JLL, added: “We saw an improvement in demand for out of town offices during the latter half of 2015 with over 250,000 sq ft taken up during the year. There is a real shortage of larger quality modern buildings and Paradigm is therefore arriving at the right time to satisfy this need.”

Thorpe Park Leeds is located just six miles east of Leeds City Centre, with direct access off junction 46 of the M1.

Paradigm offers 31,650 sq ft of lettable space with 122 car parking spaces. Principal floor plates range from 8,800 sq ft to 10,275 sq ft. The building is located overlooking Junction 46 of the M1, Crossgates railway station is within one mile and new bus services are planned to run through Thorpe Park Leeds.