Turner and Townsend move for Sheffield listed building

Turner and Townsend, the professional services specialist, has secured a ten year city-centre lease on a top-spec listed office building in Sheffield.

1 East Parade on Sheffield High Street, located next to the Cathedral and Fargate shopping district, is recognizable for its Victorian turreted and castellated red-brick frontage, which has been preserved through a full refurbishment of the inner space.

The building consultancy and agency teams from the Sheffield office of Knight Frank has been appointed to renovate, and subsequently market the property, which will consist of the creation of two floors of Grade A offices, marketed on behalf of Square Metre Properties Limited.

Turner and Townsend will occupy 5,000 sq ft of the building’s 10,000 sq ft of refurbished space in the ten year deal.

Peter Whiteley, partner at Knight Frank, said: “We were appointed to undertake a full refurbishment of at 1 East Parade, which included all common areas and two floors of office space, to bring this unique period property up to a very high specification.

“This body of renovation work by our building consultancy team and subsequent marketing and lease negotiations on behalf of the client, duly helped to secure the tenancy of Turner and Townsend on a ten year lease, with a five year break clause.”

The refurbishment work, being undertaken by Knight Frank’s Building Consultancy team under the management of Daniel Green, will include complicated settlement of dilapidations claims, feasibility studies, cost management advice, tendering and tender analysis, project management, design and contract administration.

Chris Sargent from Turner and Townsend, an independent professional services company specialising in programme, project and cost management with offices nationwide, commented: “Securing prime office space in the centre of Sheffield, particularly in such a unique building is hugely important for our business.

“Our new office at East Parade reinforces our long standing commitment to the Sheffield City Region and provides us with an opportunity to grow our business by attracting and retaining talent and diversifying our client base. We are delighted with our new premises.”

1 East Parade was formerly home to PwC and has Lloyds Bank at ground floor level, with Turner and Townsend taking space on floor two in a relocation from its previous headquarters at St James House on nearby Vicar Lane.

Peter Whiteley added: “1 East Parade is very well located within Sheffield’s legal quarter, right in the city centre. An additional 5,000 sq ft of much needed high specification centrally located office space on the first floor is now available, and this quality of space is in short supply under the city’s current stock levels.

“Sheffield is going through an exciting time at the moment, and as other cities reach their maximum headline rents, properties like 1 East Parade coming to market provide a really interesting prospect for businesses wanting to relocate into prime city centre space, but with a measurable economic benefit.”

“The property is suited to legal or financial businesses or those who simply want office space which is right in the middle of the action.”

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