Ideal Heating has received the green light to establish a new £12.5m research and development facility to support low carbon technologies including heat pumps. Hull City Council has granted full planning permission for the UK Technology Centre at Ideal Heating’s headquarters site in the city. The R&D facility will create a testbed for product development and advancements in the heating solutions to help decarbonise UK homes and business premises. The state-of-the-art facility, at Ideal Heating’s site at National Avenue in Hull, will see the company expand its R&D team. It represents a significant investment from Ideal Heating and will play key role in the company’s transition to low carbon heating solutions including heat pumps. Construction of the UK Technology Centre is expected to begin this October and is due be completed in late 2024. The R&D centre is set to be operational in early 2025. Ideal Heating engineering director Helen Villamuera said: “Our UK Technology Centre is part of a major £60m investment we’re making in our Hull site, to support heat pump manufacturing, distribution and innovation in heating technologies. “From the outset, Hull City Council has been fully supportive of our plans, which will create highly skilled jobs in the city and expand our existing R&D capabilities. “We’re delighted to have secured full planning permission for the UK Technology Centre. We will now begin a competitive tender process to appoint a contractor to deliver this project.” The two-storey building, with an additional partial storey to accommodate plant rooms for the centre, will help to develop and refine the low carbon heating technologies, including heat pumps, needed to decarbonise the UK’s 25 million homes. The Government has set ambitious targets for heat pump deployment, including for 600,000 heat pumps to be installed in domestic properties annually by 2028. The UK Technology Centre will provide a purpose-designed new home for Ideal Heating’s expert R&D team, which has an increasing range of engineering roles related to design, development, electronics, simulation and product testing disciplines. Laboratory facilities within the 38,000 sq ft building will enable Ideal Heating’s R&D team to simulate a range of scenarios and conditions to test new innovations and advancements. The R&D facility is one of a series of major investments from Ideal Heating at its Hull site. Construction work has been completed on a heat pump production facility and expanded distribution centre, totalling £20m of investment. Ideal Heating also announced recently it had started producing its new monobloc heat pump, Logic Air, in Hull as the company supports the rollout of renewable heating products. Ideal Heating has also opened a £2.2m National Training and Technology Centre in Hessle, on the outskirts of Hull, with capacity for up to 5,000 installers every year to learn the skills needed to supply and maintain heat pumps.

Lincoln contractor, Stirlin, has revealed details for a new commercial scheme in central Lincoln. The scheme, Witham Enterprise Park, is planned to offer nine new industrial units with sizes starting from circa 956 sq ft, designed by Johnathan Roberts Architects and constructed by Stirlin. The 1.22-acre site, located off Newark Road, adjacent to the Esso fuel station and the River Witham, serves as a prime gateway into Lincoln City Centre. Split across three phases, Witham Enterprise Park will provide over 16,000 sq ft of employment space. Tony Lawton, Managing Director of Stirlin, says: “We’re delighted to collaborate with our joint venture partner to bring forward Witham Enterprise Park. The existing site will greatly benefit from a complete regeneration and there is a notable lack of sufficient contemporary industrial space within the city centre. “We are looking forward to delivering another fantastic project that will boost the county’s economic growth and support the local business base. With its excellent access to Lincoln City Centre and the A46, Witham Enterprise Park will act as the perfect hub for a variety of both local and national enterprises.” Jasper Caudwell, Chartered Surveyor at Pygott & Crone, says: “We are delighted to be named as sole agents on another one of Stirlin’s leading developments in Lincoln, Witham Enterprise Park. The scheme sits in an extremely attractive and strong strategic position located just off Newark Road and will fill a much-needed gap in the market for accessible, modern warehouse space. “The success of the scheme has already been proven by the early interest off-plan, with two units already under offer. We recommend interested parties to get in touch at the earliest to see how your business could benefit from being located at Witham Enterprise Park.” Site preparation works are underway, with construction due to commence imminently.

Leeds Beckett University’s Rose Bowl building is undergoing a four-floor transformation, which will revolutionise the way staff and students work, study and collaborate. Chameleon Business Interiors has been commissioned to deliver interior design, fit-out and furniture services at the city centre building. Harriet Wagstaff, head of sales, at Chameleon said: “The work is taking place across a mix of staff work departments, teaching spaces and student areas. “Research shows that working in a collaborative – rather than individual – setting sees a 50% increase in productivity. This boosts motivation and engagement. But Leeds Beckett University had identified that the Rose Bowl building was quite segregated. Departments needed to be strategically brought together to enable better collaboration and in turn, greater productivity – all while embracing hybrid working. “So, we’ll be incorporating collaboration hubs and lounges, a collection of different work environments – from comfortable seating to high benches – and contemporary, glass-fronted meeting pods. Alongside this, work-café areas will feature at the end of each wing on all four floors to create an informal space away from desks, where staff and students can hold informal meetings and hot desk. “We’ve delivered a number of projects in the education sector, but this is our first piece of work with Leeds Beckett University – so we’re incredibly proud and excited to play a role in improving the working environment for staff and students for years to come.” Work is due to complete in September.

A Reserve Matters planning application has been submitted for the new Square at York Central, following a series of events where members of the public shared their ideas to shape its design. Plans for The Square at the York Central development were submitted for approval by Homes England and Network Rail Limited on behalf of the York Central Partnership. It marks the next significant phase of the development since outline planning permission was granted by City of York Council in 2019. Formally referred to as RMA3 (The Square), the application details the proposed layout, scale, appearance and access for creating a new public space with associated infrastructure and landscaping. It also includes suggested alterations to the existing road network, in line with the design guide and outline planning considerations. Initially anticipated to be submitted in Spring 2023, the submission was delayed to gather additional feedback from members of the public, partners and wider stakeholders within York. A series of in person and online events were held from November 2022 to June 2023 for people to share their views on emerging plans and help shape the designs. Natalie Webster, senior project manager on behalf of Homes England and Network Rail, says: “Key feedback which has informed the design has been around safety for pedestrians and cyclists, accessibility, lighting and planting. Greenery and community public space were important to many people too, as well as linking with wider phases of the development. “We’ve listened to what people wanted and worked closely with the wider design and planning team to incorporate as much of this feedback as possible into the latest planning application. There have also been some great ideas that are not suitable for this particular area of the scheme but could work well elsewhere on the site and we will consider these where appropriate.” York Central is one of the largest city centre brownfield regeneration sites in England, with £135m public sector funding already secured to build key upfront infrastructure. Infrastructure work began in Summer 2022 to build over two kilometres of new roads plus public footpaths and cycle ways, as well as new utilities and the building of two new bridges over the East Coast mainline. It will also provide up to 2,500 homes, at least 20% of which will be affordable, create over 1 million sq ft of commercial space for offices, retail and leisure and provide a significant boost for the local economy with potential to create up to 6,000 jobs. The plans for The Square have been validated by City of York Council and will now be considered by its planning team, with a decision expected by the end of 2023.

Two floors at The Granary, Leeds have been snapped up by White Rose Education. The Granary is a Grade 2 listed local landmark with a history dating back to 1777. The building is in the heart of Leeds and has been substantially redeveloped to offer 20,000 sq ft of office space. Tony Staneff, founder of White Rose Education, said: “We are delighted with The Granary. The property has recently been substantially redeveloped and is now one of the most advanced office buildings in Leeds. “Our ten year commitment to the building is part of a growth initiative and we will use this as offices, training facilities and media work. We expect over 80 staff members to eventually work from the property. “Schofield Sweeney have been absolutely fantastic guiding us through this transaction in particular dealing with very tight timescales and for accommodating our bespoke needs.” Pardeep Khela, director, Schofield Sweeney, said: “I am thrilled to get this deal over the line. The transaction was substantial in terms of value, complexity and timescales. A big thank you to Tony at White Rise Education and Elizabeth at Knight Frank for their help on this. I look forward to working together on new projects in the future.”