Building and project consultancy Paragon has been appointed by investment and asset manager APAM to lead the £7.5m refurbishment of a 108,000 sq ft Leeds city-centre office building.
Called 1 City Square, the 11-storey building is next to Channel 4’s new headquarters and opposite Leeds train station. APAM acquired the property for £32.3m in January on behalf of Danish pension fund investment company, Britannia Invest. Occupiers include Deloitte, which has more than 50,000 sq ft of space.
A team from Paragon comprising director James Onions, associate director Keith Quigley and senior cost manager Andrew Kehoe has been instructed to lead the project. Paragon provided building, M&E and environmental surveys before the purchase.
APAM is undertaking a full remodelling of the atrium and main entrance, and refurbishing five of the storeys. Enhanced electric vehicle charging points, cycle storage, fitness studio, shower and changing facilities, café and business lounge will also be included. The work is scheduled to complete in 2020.
Commenting on Paragon’s appointment, APAM senior asset manager, Peter Owen, said: “We are committed to revitalising this prestigious office address in Leeds. Paragon was an ideal choice for the project and cost management role due to the consultancy’s dynamism and commercially astute approach.
“We look forward to bringing more much-needed Grade A office space to the booming Leeds market in 2020.”
Based in London and Manchester, APAM has invested more than £1bn on behalf of its joint venture partners and currently manages £1.5bn of assets across the UK. APAM was appointed by Britannia Invest to manage a UK-wide office portfolio including 1 City Square worth more than £450m.
Paragon director James Onions, who heads up the consultancy’s Manchester office and operations throughout the north of England, added: “We have an excellent track record in successfully managing high-profile, complex projects like 1 City Square, which involves working around existing occupiers to minimise disruption.
“This is another landmark project for Paragon in Leeds, following our work on Thorpe Park business park and Vita Student Leeds which completed ahead of programme and to budget earlier this year. With two further significant projects recently secured, we continue to strengthen our pipeline of work in the Leeds area.”
Paragon also has offices in London, Esher, Edinburgh and Bristol. Founded in 2009, it is one of the largest independent building and project consultancies in the UK, employing nearly 200 people.
The consultancy has expertise in all aspects of building surveying, project management, project monitoring, cost consultancy, M&E consultancy, environmental consultancy, occupier services, drone services, dispute resolution support, rights of light and party wall services.
Knight Frank and CBRE are the agents for 1 City Square. Specialist construction company Ardmac is the main contractor. The design team includes architect tp bennett, M&E and fire engineer Hilson Moran and structural engineer AKT II.