Member Article

Senior appointment drives Shelborn’s UK sustainability agenda

The owner of a leading North East office park has strengthened its senior management team as it plans to invest further in strategic growth and sustainability.

Laura McGrath has been promoted to director of sustainability and community with key responsibilities for Shelborn Asset Management’s entire portfolio, which includes one million sq. ft. of office space at Quorum Park on Benton Lane, Newcastle as well as one and a half million sq ft of office developments in the current pipeline.

Based at the park since 2013, the move will see McGrath working across the company’s UK office portfolio, where she will be responsible for community building and placemaking alongside involvement in supporting a nationwide growth and development strategy. This will include overseeing the embedding of business-critical sustainability initiatives and developing the company’s green practices.

Stepping up from the role of events and sustainability lead, Laura McGrath has already been the driving force behind a number of successful initiatives at Quorum Park. These include the introduction of a fleet of ebikes, the creation of an allotment and community garden, a sustainability working group, and leading a series of online and onsite learning workshops and seminars through the Q Learning programme.

Commenting on her appointment, Laura McGrath said: “I look forward to helping Shelborn on its drive towards greater sustainability, as we continue to invest in developing and expanding our portfolio of modern workplaces. This is an exciting time for the business, and I’m keen to use my experience and achievements from Quorum as a blueprint for rolling out sustainability success across all the Shelborn sites.”

Mark Rabinowitz, director at Shelborn said: “Laura brings a wealth of experience and knowledge to our senior management team and I look forward to her continuing to make a major contribution to our ESG and community initiatives.

“We have ambitious plans to grow our portfolio, but it’s critical that this is delivered in a way that is both sustainable and has a positive impact on our properties and tenants. I’m confident that Laura will enable us to do that.”

Following a raft of lettings since its acquisition of Quorum in 2019, Shelborn has improved occupancy levels across the office park to over 90%. Most recently, Europe’s largest monitored alarm provider Verisure has tripled its floorspace at Quorum as part of its relocation to Q12.

Shelborn has also secured a further 90,000 sq.ft of new lettings, welcoming occupiers such as National Utility Hub, Shared Services Connected Ltd (SSCL), Rambol, NRG, Rightmove, and managed print services firm Concept Group to Quorum.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Four Walls PR .