Airedale House, an office and retail building in central Leeds, has attracted its first major new tenant since it was acquired and extensively redeveloped by Bridges Ventures (“Bridges”), the specialist sustainable and impact investor.
CBRE’s Leeds office agency team has secured a 5-year lease to The Prince’s Trust for circa 3,900 sq ft of refurbished offices on the 4th floor of the development, just as the newly upgraded space is launched to market.
Airedale House is situated on Albion Street in the heart of the City’s commercial district. It comprises 26,337 sq ft of retail space and 15,056 sq ft of office accommodation, with existing tenants including Slater Menswear and Co-op Travel.
The Bridges Sustainable Property Fund, managed by Bridges, acquired the building for circa £4m in January last year.
Bridges then instructed CBRE’s building consultancy team as Contract Administrator to manage a comprehensive refurbishment of the vacant space, plus the entrance and reception area. This included the introduction of a number of environmentally-friendly features, such as solar photovoltaic roof panels, energy-efficient heating and cooling systems and PIR lighting.
Taken together, these measures have transformed the building and improved its Energy Performance Certificate from E to B – cutting carbon emissions by up to 50% and substantially reducing energy and service charge costs for tenants.
Alex Hailey, Associate Director at CBRE’s Leeds office, said;
“Airedale House is an excellent example of how a well-considered refurbishment can successfully transform a prominent building into high quality, environmentally-friendly office space. The letting to The Princes Trust demonstrates the success of the works and the demand for offices close to Trinity within the heart of Leeds. We are currently handling keen interest in the remaining available space.”
Guy Bowden, Acquisitions Director at Bridges Ventures, said:
“We invested in Airedale House partly because of its prime location, and partly because we saw the opportunity to carry out a sustainable refurbishment that would substantially reduce emissions and cut energy costs; we were confident this would be an attractive proposition for potential occupiers. So we’re delighted to have secured our first new tenant so soon after completion of the works, and we look forward to welcoming more in due course.”
