Award winning design at One City Park

One City Park in Bradford, our state-of-the-art office building delivered in partnership with Bradford Council, recently won the ‘Design Excellence’ award at this year’s Yorkshire Business Insider Placemaking awards.

We thought this was a great opportunity to delve a little deeper into the design and build of this now award-winning space.

One City Park has significantly raised Bradford’s profile as a key destination for businesses. The development, which features 56,403 sq ft (5,240 sq m) of office space delivered on time and on budget in partnership with the City of Bradford Metropolitan Borough Council, is the city’s first Grade A office development in 20 years. This building, located in the city centre at Centenary Square, has moved the dial in terms of positioning this young and dynamic city as a serious alternative to Leeds for both Yorkshire based companies and Northshoring businesses who are attracted to Bradford’s young & diverse workforce and high graduate retention.

At the start of this year, international professional services firm, PwC were announced as the anchor tenant for the scheme, taking almost 50% of the available space (27,050 sq ft) across two floors. The new space will allow the professional services firm to grow its existing workforce of 200, by a further 300 new employees, unlocking significant talent that it sees in the city and shows the demand that exists for new highly sustainable grade A space in the city.

The five-storey development offers exceptional workspace with floor plans that can adapt to accommodate new and more agile working practices that promote wellbeing in the workplace. More than 300 jobs were created throughout the construction of One City Park, and up to 1000 jobs will be based in the building once fully occupied.

People-Centric Design:

The building places people at its heart, fostering collaboration and inspiring colleagues. Our partners wanted the reception to provide a very active frontage facing the Mirror Pool in City Park. To achieve this, a new co-working area merged with a café space on the ground floor was created, providing a very flexible space that can be utilised in a number of ways but should always be busy with staff and visitors. interactions. The highly glazed facades offer all occupiers good daylighting and great connection to the external environment with views of the city, wherever they are.

Sustainability at its core:

The development has strong sustainability credentials, including high-performance glazing to the façades to maximise natural light while reducing solar gain; photovoltaic panels and low carbon air source heat pumps to heat and cool the building on renewable energy. A roof terrace serves a dual purpose, helping with the natural cooling of the building, as well as promoting the wellbeing of its occupants. The 10 car-parking spaces housed within the building have electric vehicle charging points.

Secure cycle storage for 60 bicycles along with changing rooms, showers and lockers on the ground floor encourage workers to take more sustainable and healthier ways to travel to the office.  The building is EPC A rated and has achieved BREEAM Excellent and a WiredScore Gold and SmartScore Gold Rating. The landscape design thoughtfully extends the existing environment, optimising sunlight and local microclimates while retaining established trees and introducing complementary new plantings. Drought-tolerant rain gardens offer year-round structure and colour to attract pollinators.

Our Sustainable Development Strategy (SDS) provides teams, contractors, and wider supply chain with clear guidelines and targets to deliver the highest levels of environmental performance and positive social impact, enabling transparency and accountability. Through a sustainable procurement strategy, 64% of the workforce and 71% of the supply chain spend on the project was within the Leeds City Region. Ten apprentices have been supported onsite through subcontractors involved in crucial project aspects and through a series of educational outreach initiatives, over 250 young people in Bradford have been engaged with.

New public spaces:

One City Park is complemented by new public spaces around the site for the community to enjoy. The building is fully integrated and connected to the multi award-winning Centenary Square – at the heart of which lies the stunning mirror pool – with new “Spanish Steps” themed access and attractive curved seating areas blending in with the existing urban grain.

A new chapter for Bradford:

Our objective was not only to provide high-quality, flexible spaces for thriving businesses but also to catalyse further investments in commercial and residential development, revitalising underused city centre buildings. With a secured anchor tenant for the third and fourth floors, One City Park demonstrates a strong demand for sustainable, flexible office spaces in the city.

Bradford boasts a rich history, a truly international community, and a young, forward-looking population, making the city one of the most compelling places to do business in the UK, with One City Park now a major part of this new chapter in Bradford’s story. One City Park is heralding a new era for this progressive, modern city where future generations will choose to live and work, attracted by the opportunity to fulfil their potential here.”