Landlord hopes fresh forum will encourage the village people

With many companies reluctant to move during the economic uncertainty, landlords have been coming up with increasingly inventive ways of attracting new tenants.

Free cars, apartments and lengthy rent-free periods have all been dangled in front of prospective new office tenants to try to move the market forward.

Yet, according to LSH's National Office Report 2010, take-up in Leeds dropped 37 per cent below the 10-year average this year.

Developers and investors in Holbeck Urban Village, south of Leeds city centre, have created a new forum to tackle the issue of how to sustain a vibrant community and encourage new companies to move into the scheme.

Paul Simmons, director of landlord Igloo, which owns business and residential space, including Marshall's Mill, Marshall's Court and the Round Foundry, said: "The market remains challenging and closer working will achieve more than working individually. Our aim is to understand what everyone is doing and combine our marketing and events strategies."

Originally a quiet hamlet, Holbeck became the powerhouse of the industrial revolution in Leeds, with its innovators and entrepreneurs exporting machinery and textiles to all parts of the world.

Now part of the area has been regenerated and a new generation of digital entrepreneurs have taken over the listed foundries, mills and workshops bequeathed by tailors, textile workers and steam engineers.

Since May 2009, the scheme has retained or gained 11 tenants but it has lost about five per cent of its floor space after some of its largest tenants, including Orange, moved out.

Mr Simmons admits that Igloo was slow to reduce its rents in line with other landlords in the city. It has now dropped its headline rents at Marshall's Mill to around 15 per sq ft, compared with 19 prior to the recession, while rents at the Round Foundry building have fallen from 23 per sq ft to 17.

He said: "We have had to bring down our prices because the competition has.

"We started bringing in incentives, such as short leases and flexible leases, towards the end of last year. We were a bit slow to recognise that that was what we needed to do but, having said that, there weren't many deals we lost to another location."

According to a recent report by CB Richard Ellis, 48 office deals completed in the first half of this year, compared with 36 at the same time last year, but 41 of these deals were less than 5,000 sq ft.

This is something that Igloo says it has taken on board.

The majority of available space at Holbeck Urban Village is in Marshall's Mill, which has two large floor plates of 10,000 sq ft to let. Igloo plans to sub-divide the vacant space to appeal to a wider range of tenants.

"The requirements for more than 10,000 sq ft are few and far between, so we decided to change our approach with the mill," said Mr Simmons.

Several office and residential development sites dotted around the urban village were stalled during the recession but one of Igloo's priorities has been to create a vibrant community for existing tenants to keep the scheme alive.

It produces a quarterly newsletter, called "Bleat", and holds regular events for the tenants.

One of its most successful projects was the creation of Wonderwood, an urban wonderland created by local artists, on one of the stalled development sites.

Mr Simmons said: "It gives people a sense of commitment to the place and shows that things are still happening and there will come a time when activity will start again."

Poor signage and physical links to the city centre have been cited as problems for Holbeck, issues Mr Simmons hopes will be resolved once work resumes at his development and other surrounding developments.

But despite the economic uncertainty, Mr Simmons remains upbeat about Holbeck's prospects. "When we first bought the scheme, there wasn't much going on and now Holbeck Urban Village appears on people's requirement lists, which is a definite achievement," he said.

CREATING A VIBRANT COMMUNITY

The Green Sand Foundry at Holbeck Urban Village has been turned into a temporary creative space for a group of artists while it waits for a new tenancy to begin.

Artists collective Black Dogs have been using space rent-free at the 3,000 sq ft building since March, keeping the space in active use.

During its residency, the company has shown films, listened online to lectures by French philosophers, produced sound installations and created a library.

Importantly, according to landlord Igloo, over the course of various events, Black Dogs has brought around 100 people to Holbeck Urban Village who wouldn't otherwise have seen the development.

Paul Simmons, director of Igloo, said: "Things like this are an important part of creating a vibrant community."