Morgan Sindall has been awarded a £14.8 million contract to create new civic offices for Wakefield Metropolitan District Council.

The company is constructing a five-storey commercial building at Burton Street, Wakefield.

Morgan Sindall is carrying out the project for English Cities Fund (ECf) – a joint venture partnership which comprises urban regeneration and property development company Muse Developments, Legal & General and the Homes and Communities Agency.

The new 123,000 ft² building, situated in the heart of Wakefield city centre, will include open-plan office space with a central atrium, extensive glazing and external rainscreen cladding with terracotta tiles.

"We are thrilled we have been chosen to deliver this modern, sustainable new office development in Wakefield," said Chris Brown, Morgan Sindall Area Director. "As a local company, we are delighted to be involved with the building of state-of-the-art facilities for the city council’s staff. We aim to reduce the carbon footprint of all our projects so we will be using renewable sources wherever possible."


Emma Cordingley, Development Director for ECf, added: "We are pleased to appoint Morgan Sindall as contractors to build the new civic offices as part of the second phase of development at Merchant Gate.

"The new civic offices will be a tremendous asset to Wakefield city centre, the council and the residents of the city. Following the launch of the first phase of the Merchant Gate scheme last week, it's great to see the scheme moving forward with work starting on the next phase."

The first phase delivers 66 contemporary apartments, 35,000 ft² of retail and leisure space, 48,000 ft² of grade ‘A’ office space, which are all now available. In addition, the scheme provides an impressive public realm area, Burgage Square, and a new multi-storey car park adjacent to the site, which is open for use and provides much-need parking to the city centre and commuters to Westgate station.

The concrete frame of the building will commence in October utilising a tower crane, following the completion of the piling and groundwork elements of the project.

The project is due to be completed in December 2011.

(CD)