Pre-construction services at Merrion House
Shepherd has been appointed to carry out the pre-construction services at Merrion House in Leeds City Centre.
Selected by Town Centre Securities PLC after a competitive bid process, built environment specialist, Shepherd, will provide pre-construction services ahead of the complete refurbishment and extension of Merrion House.
Neil Clarke, Construction Director for Shepherd, comments: “The Merrion House project is one of several key developments our multidisciplinary teams are successfully delivering across the city, including MEPC’s Wellington Place and Leeds University library and multi-storey car park. We are delighted to be a major contributor to the evolving skyline of Leeds.”
“Even in the pre-construction phase of this development, the live nature of Merrion House required a technical understanding of the challenges it posed. Shepherd was able to provide an insightful and deliverable pre-construction bid and we are looking forward to working collaboratively in order to move the project into the next phase of development.”
– Edward Ziff, chairman and chief executive of Town Centre Securities
Once complete, the newly refurbished and extended Merrion House will become one of Leeds City Council’s key buildings, where it will create a central base for all of its main services. In what has been dubbed the city’s largest office pre-let deal in two decades, Leeds City Council agreed a 25 year lease for circa 170,000 sq ft of new and refurbished space with Merrion House owners, Town Centre Securities, in October 2013.
After the move, most of Leeds City Council’s main services will be offered from a single home in the city centre – the refurbished Merrion House. Three smaller office buildings will also be retained in the medium term, along with key civic buildings such as the Civic Hall and Town Hall, with the remaining premises released in order to save the council in excess of £15m. This will be achieved with the adoption of flexible and modern new working methods and environments to improve efficiency.