Clarence Dock back in fashion
YORKSHIRE BUSINESS INSIDER
April 2010
Yorkshire Water transformed the fortunes of Clarence Dock in Leeds by taking 57,000 sq ft of Grade A space at Livingstone House, and its 55 staff have brought the daytime footfall that the city’s largest mixed-use scheme so badly needed.
Crosby Lend Lease devised the scheme to regenerate the area around the Royal Armouries, but it was based on the appeal of waterside living and cutting-edge fashion. Ryden surveyor Steven Jones has been involved since 2005, initially with Knight Frank advising Crosby, and finally working on behalf of Yorkshire Water to acquire space in Livingstone House. He says: “Crosby wanted all of the space to go to quirky Fashion brands such as All Saints and G-Star. That was one fundamental element it got wrong. The other was to charge for parking. All the fashion brands took decent leases and a bit of a punt on the location. It was pitched as an extension to the centre, but it takes me 18 minutes to walk there from the station, so I thought it was fringe at best. By autumn 2008 the retailers were only trading there because their deals had been so highly incentivised, but there just wasn’t the footfall.”
However, last summer GE Real Estate, which had acquired Livingstone House in 2007, decided to replace Savills with WSB, and by autumn Yorkshire Water was on the cusp of signing, albeit through CB Richard Ellis. WSB may not have been on board for long, but one of its founding directors, Robin Beagley, says the consultancy did advise on repositioning Clarence Dock’s marketing strategy. “We told the client not to be ashamed of the location, and also put the headline rents up to £19.50 sq ft” he says. “Any headquarters building would have struggled in the recession, but Livingstone House was appealing to Yorkshire water because its staff do not need to be bang in the city core. Now we have just 15,000 sq ft left and I’m confident we can fill that with up to three lettings. Clarence Dock has reached the point when all the pieces of the jigsaw finally fall into place.”
