Member Article

Floods Won’t Dampen Spirits At Leeds Property Company

LEEDS CITY living specialist Morgans’ Dock Street office, which reopened within 24 hours of the Boxing Day floods, is now preparing to embark on a major refurbishment programme after the property’s lower ground floor was submerged in more than five feet of water.

After heavy rainfall trounced the North of England over Boxing Day and the River Aire burst its banks, remediation specialists worked through the night to remove more than 40 tonnes of water from the building meaning the office could reopen on Monday 28th December.

The basement area of the building, which is located directly next to the River Aire, houses the office’s kitchen, staff bar, lounge, toilets, shower rooms, stationery stores, archive, air conditioning plant and communications room, which were all destroyed.

Figures from Morgans, which manages the largest rentals portfolio of apartments in the City, also reveal that only 12 of 11,000 apartments in Leeds City Centre suffered flood damage over the Christmas period, despite extensive disruption across the city.

Jonathan Morgan, Managing Director of Morgans, says: “Leeds City Centre is home to very few basement and ground floor apartments so it’s reassuring that so few homes in the City suffered as a result of this unprecedented event. Unfortunately, our office wasn’t so lucky and is one of many buildings that fell victim to the river bursting its banks.

“However, we’re fortunate to have received lots of support and our team have been amazing with many of them involved in the clean-up. Our operations manager Jacqui Pringle did a sterling job in getting Morgans back on track and reopened within hours of the floods hitting. We’ve also had visits from Tom Riordan and Judith Blake from Leeds City Council, MP Hilary Benn and Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government Greg Clark.”

Jonathan adds: “We’ll now finish the clean-up before completely refurbishing the entire floor and installing a new and improved staff breakout area and facilities”.

Morgans manages a portfolio of apartments which range in price from £475 to over £2,000 per calendar month. The firm also has a dedicated corporate arm dealing with businesses relocating staff to Leeds and a highly experienced sales division marketing apartments priced between £110,000 and £725,000.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Steven Wright .