Major office complex gets go-ahead in heart of city

BAM Properties has secured planning permission for a 115,000 sq ft seven-storey commercial office development in the west end of Leeds, which will be known as Latitude Blue.

A prospective occupier has been found, and BAM will offer the building to the market on a pre-let basis.

Michael Smart, BAM properties development director, said: “This will be a high-spec development, designed and built to deliver energy efficiency and low running costs.

“It will have everything you would want from a prime development in the heart of a thriving international city but at a lower cost than you would expect.

“Construction can start almost immediately following agreement with a prospective occupier. This flexibility is possible because the design work is being done by BAM Design and the 18-month building work will be undertaken by BAM Construction who, along with BAM Properties, are part of BAM Construct UK.”

It is BAM Properties’ third office development in Leeds. Lateral, its 96,000 sq ft office close to Leeds city centre, was sold in 2005 to Oregan Financial Services, and an earlier 121,944 sq ft development, Latitude Red, was sold three years ago. The agents for Latitude Blue are BNP Paribas Real Estate in Leeds.

BAM Properties specialises in high-end developments in the commercial and retail sectors.

A spokesman for BAM said: “BAM sold Latitude Red to IVG, which is next to this development on Whitehall Road, back in 2008, beating the market downturn.

“This planning permission means we’re in a strong position to commence the building if and when we attract an occupier for the new building, Latitude Blue.

“It is a speculative building, as with nearly all our developments, and its strong environmental credentials are what usually attracts our clients.

“Recent occupiers include Nike in Scotland and BSkyB in Stockport.”

There have been few speculative developments in Yorkshire in recent years.

The market suffered a slump during the financial crisis. A number of high profile schemes were mothballed, and developers were reluctant to invest in speculative schemes because of the cost and risk.

BAM is the commercial property development arm of BAM Construct UK, a construction services company with a turnover of more than £1bn a year.

The company is involved in construction, design, and facilities management. Its parent company is Royal BAM Group, a worldwide construction services company, which is listed on Euronext Amsterdam.

BAM Properties has developed more than 2.5m sq ft of office space over the past 25 years.