Construction work has begun at the £60m 31 Wellington Street development, a 80,000 sq ft new office building in Leeds.

The development, opposite Wellington Place, is being undertaken by Prescient Capital. It is set to replace Wellington Plaza, which has been demolished.

Located at the junction of Wellington Street and Northern Street, the nine-storey building is set to be completed and ready for occupation by the summer of next year.

Eamon Fox, office agency partner and head of global property consultancy Knight Frank’s Leeds office, who is advising Prescient Capital, said: “This is a gamechanger for the Leeds office market, providing much needed and very timely quality office space to satisfy pent-up demand.

How the building at 31 Wellington Street could look

placeholder image — How the building at 31 Wellington Street could look

“It is not surprising that we are already experiencing a high level of interest in this super prime building.

“This is a significant differentiator from the other major developments in the city in the pipeline.

“There is no doubt that 31 Wellington Street is going to be a magnificent building and a worthy addition to the thriving professional core in the West End of Leeds.

"We should all be very proud of both the vision and the courage of Prescient Capital to invest in Leeds at this vitally important time.” The 31 Wellington Street scheme is a speculative development, meaning it has been undertaken without a pre-committed buyer or tenant.

Mr Fox said Knight Frank would be quoting rents of £55 per sq. ft, “in line with the general trajectory of office rents in Leeds”.

Doug Friend, director of Prescient Capital, said: “As an adopted Yorkshireman, I have always been a massive supporter of the city of Leeds, having my office base here and the opportunity to develop a prime office building was too good to pass up.

“It is never an easy decision to embark on a speculative development but, in this case, the fundamentals are very sound.

“The combination of the quality of 31 Wellington Street, its superb location and the stark lack of Grade A office space made this development a compelling proposition.”

Fox Lloyd Jones and AC7 have been appointed to market the building.

Clegg Construction was appointed as main contractor to deliver the scheme, while the rest of the project team includes DLA Architecture, Quod, civil and structural engineer Roscoe, service engineer Thornley & Lumb, Axi interiors, fire engineer BB7, Hydrock, and Ridge.