Muse Developments, one of the UK’s leading names in town and city-centre urban regeneration, has today (Thursday 21 October) received full planning consent for One City Park, a BREEAM ‘Excellent’ 56,403 sq ft office building in the heart of Bradford city centre.
The development will transform the former police HQ site, addressing a shortage in high-quality office space in Bradford city centre. It will offer exceptional accommodation for a range of occupiers from starts-up and growing SMEs, to larger organisations requiring flexible, modern spaces.
Earlier this year, Bradford Council secured £7.5m of funding from the government’s Getting Building Fund through West Yorkshire Combined Authority, to accelerate the delivery of One City Park.
The development will create more than 300 jobs throughout construction, with a further 450 jobs based in the new building once complete. One City Park is a key part of the council’s wider regeneration of the city, with major ongoing investment into transport and infrastructure as part of the £50m Transforming Cities public realm enhancement programme.
Simon Dew, development director at Muse Developments said: “As specialists in place-changing regeneration, we’ve really embedded ourselves in Bradford and worked closely with the council, local stakeholders and the wider business community over the last 18 months to make sure that One City Park will be a landmark development for the city, and act as a catalyst for further investment, growth and opportunity. There’s no doubt that the pandemic has changed the way we work, and we’ve taken this into consideration by designing a scheme that will accommodate flexible, hybrid working patterns – but is also state-of-the-art, energy efficient and where collaboration and creativity can thrive.”
Cllr Susan Hinchcliffe, leader of Bradford Council, said: “To support the next stage of our growth and ambition for Bradford, the city centre needs new, high-quality and flexible office space to keep home-grown businesses in the district and to attract new organisations from outside the region. Getting the green light for this development, on the back of Bradford being longlisted for UK City of Culture 2025, is another step in our plans for delivering regeneration. We look forward to working with Muse to bring the scheme to completion over the coming months.”
In addition to high-quality, open-plan office space, the five-storey building will also feature leisure space on the ground floor. New public realm created around the site will include the transformation of existing green space to the south into a pocket park. New stepped access and seating areas will connect City Park to the new development, making sure the office building feels fully integrated.
The development will feature many sustainable elements, including high-performance glazing to the façades to maximise natural light but reduce solar gain; photovoltaic panels and air source heat pumps. A roof terrace will aid natural cooling and promote the wellbeing of the occupants. It will also include 10 car-parking spaces, all of which will have electric car charging points and extensive secure cycle storage and changing facilities on the ground floor to encourage more sustainable methods of travel to work.
The building will be sympathetically incorporated into City Park, Bradford’s multi-award-winning public space which is home to city’s iconic ‘Mirror Pool’, the largest urban water feature in the UK, alongside major cultural assets including City Hall, Impressions Gallery as well as bars, restaurants and cafes.
