Office provider invests in £18m expansion

Monument Investment Holdings plans to re-open its London office in Berkeley Square, Mayfair, which was mothballed two years ago during the height of the financial crisis.

Monument Investment is the company behind Prospect Business Centres, which offer serviced, city centre office space.

Warren Hill, the managing director of Leeds-based Monument Investment, said he planned to expand the company's range

of business centres over the next year by opening six more,

in Sheffield, Reading, Manchester, Slough, Croydon and Belfast.

The total cost will be around 18m.

Mr Hill said: "CBRE are our chosen national agent employed to source properties nationally.The expansion will create 60 jobs in the Prospect business centre company."

Monument Investment was formed in 2008 when three Yorkshire businesses came together to form one property group.

The three businesses – Burford Park Estates, Prospect Business Centres and Loxley Homes – were all formed by Mr Hill.

The company already has five Prospect Business Centres.

The company has grown from a single centre, Prospect House, in Sovereign Street, Leeds, which opened in 1980. It also has two other centres in Leeds, in South Parade and Lisbon Square. Prospect recently invested 2m by opening a serviced office centre at City Plaza in Sheffield.

The company has a 10-year lease on 20,000 sq ft of offices at the building that was home to law firm Halliwells, which recently went into administration. Prospect also has a serviced office in Apollo House, York.

Earlier this year, Prospect said it had experienced a 25 per cent increase in enquiry levels for its Leeds offices during the first half of 2010, compared with the same period last year.

This was the first period of sustained increase in demand since 2008, it said.