Wayne Spriggs, Founder and CEO of Lusso, believes working from home as a not productive option for his business, and has invested over £1.5 million to have Leeds-based Building Interiors provide a workplace for his team. His sentiment is reflected in the most recent KPMG CEO Outlook Survey which revealed two thirds of bosses believe workers will return to the office, five days a week, in the next three years. The survey reports 87% of global leaders believe that reward could be linked to incentivising a return to the office with many saying that bringing teams together increases creativity and collaboration as well as fostering a corporate culture. After committing to buy a new 12,000 sq ft headquarters building in Teesside during lockdown, Lusso worked alongside office design and fitout specialist, Building Interiors to create a space more akin to a luxury apartment to achieve 100% workplace engagement from the team. Mr Spriggs said: “Lockdown was a necessity, but it has created a mindset that working from home is productive and better for individual wellbeing.  I don’t believe that – delivering a luxury product requires outstanding service and it is critical that our customer service team can physically interact with our salesforce, on the ‘shop floor’ every day.  We saw a dramatic impact during lockdown, not just in customer service delivery but also in our team engagement and their sense of reward. “We decided to buy Lusso House because it was highly accessible, just off the A66, with plenty of room for expansion. We enlisted the expert help of Building Interiors to deliver an exceptional place that our team wanted to work in and from which we could attract strong talent moving forward.” Building Interiors totally redesigned the typically bland 12,000 sq ft office building, transforming three floors into modern and agile workspaces that reflected the high-end nature of the Lusso brand but also provide a fun and motivating environment to work in. It delivered the full turnkey solution including, space design and planning, M&E installation, bespoke joinery and specification of finishes and furniture. The design supports health and wellbeing with the entire ground floor dedicated to recreation with a 24-hour access gym, pool table, arcade games, bar and social spaces. Unique design elements include feature walls, zoned carpeting, feature lighting and areas dedicated to neurodiverse needs. Jeremy Poole, Sales Director at Building Interiors, said: “Our brief was to create an engaging workplace where 100% of the team wanted to be. Quite a tall order given that home working has become so popular. The entire team could easily occupy half of one floor in Lusso House, but Wayne was insistent on providing a plenty of breakout spaces for relaxation, fun and engagement. “We continue to work with Lusso, updating spaces as the business evolves, and we value this project as a flagship for how 100% return to work can be achieved successfully.” The investment for Lusso has already paid dividends since the team has expanded three-fold in the last two years and the business continues to grow at a rapid pace with Middle East expansion next on the horizon. Wayne added: “A business like ours depends on dynamic and motivated teamwork but how can you create that with a fragmented, disengaged team? Whilst I appreciate the prospect of losing strong talent opportunities, the impact of working from home has proved far more negative on the business as a whole.  We are immensely proud that every one of our team has embraced the new office with huge enthusiasm.” Lusso offers single branded collections of luxury furniture, homewares, fixtures, and fittings for residential and commercial settings. Established in 2014 it has grown exponentially to become a £50m turnover business and features in the Sunday Times Fast Track 100.    

Pinc College, which specialises in supporting neurodivergent young people in creative sector education, has doubled the size of its campus facilities at Dean Clough in Halifax, taking occupation of a 4,000 sq ft first floor studio at Dean Clough.

As an arts education social enterprise Pinc College delivers art, digital art, and complementary study programme pathways for 16-25 years olds.  It provides an alternative approach for neurodivergent young people with additional support for high needs routes to wellbeing, attainment, sustained engagement, and employment.

Dean Clough is one of four campus locations in Yorkshire for Pinc which has 13 around the UK in total.  The team select locations carefully with strict criteria for heritage sites of cultural interest that can inspire students.  Other campus sites include Cartwright Hall in Bradford and Yorkshire Museum in York.

Lee Clough, Campus Lead at Pinc College, said: “We are pleased to be able to expand our facility at Dean Clough into an even more inspiring space for our students with glorious panoramic views and separate learning spaces to suit our learners’ individual needs.

“Many of our learners have had negative experiences of education before they come to us, but this isn’t about rescuing people, creativity is a vital 21st century skill and divergent thinking is the core ingredient. If you are neurodivergent then you are practically wired for that, with art and culture the most natural vehicle to develop it.

“Fundamentally, inclusion is about the value you have within your community, therefore it is important to us that our students go to college in places of cultural and historical importance. However, Jeremy and the team at Dean Clough have taken it a step further, they haven’t just got us in the building, they’ve put us front and centre. We feel a genuine sense of value and importance here.”

Jeremy Hall, Chairman and MD at Dean Clough Ltd, said: “We are thrilled to accommodate Pinc College with growth space at Dean Clough and it’s wonderful to have their students immersed in the Dean Clough community. Their facility is directly connected to our gallery spaces, and we encourage them to view the free exhibitions and studio programmes and make use of the fantastic breadth of amenities available at Dean Clough.

“Education and personal growth are inherent in the Dean Clough community where thought inspiring exhibitions, installations, theatre productions, wellbeing amenities and an ongoing cultural programme are an integral part of the Dean Clough offer. Indeed, Calderdale College also operates its Creative Arts with Contemporary Art and Design degree course here at Dean Clough.”

In the latest developments for the Gleadless Valley Masterplan, Sheffield City Council have been successful in applying for external funding to demolish two unoccupied buildings in an extension to the current planned development. Two former Sheffcare sites, Paddock Hill on Gleadless Road and Castelayn on Leighton Drive, have been awarded funding from central government for the release of “brownfield” land by One Public Estate’s (OPE) Brownfield Land Release Fund 2. A planning application has now been submitted and should it be successful the demolition of the buildings will be complete before the end of 2024. The sites are not part of the published Gleadless Valley Masterplan, but have been identified as suitable sites to build new homes on. Once completed, the building of new affordable homes in Gleadless Valley will allow other key actions within the masterplan, such as selected demolition, to continue as planned. Chair of Sheffield City Council’s Housing Policy Committee, Cllr Douglas Johnson said: “This new funding will help unlock key sites, which have been an eyesore in Gleadless Valley for some time and will create new affordable and sustainable homes. These multiple benefits come from good use of funding from the Brownfield Land Release Fund. “The need for affordable and sustainable housing in Sheffield has never been more pressing. I welcome any opportunity to provide more social housing and I look forward to seeing some visible progress on these sites in due course. “There has been positive work through the locally elected councillors, the cross-party working group and the staff team in Gleadless Valley and this has been essential to meet the challenges of high inflation affecting a major regeneration scheme.” Ellen Vernon, Programme Director for One Public Estate at the Local Government Association, said: “We are very pleased to have supported these formerly unviable projects in the Gleadless Valley through the Brownfield Land Release Fund 2. “The remediation of this land will enable the delivery of high quality affordable homes which are suitable for the community now and in the future. The One Public Estate programme will continue to support councils to release surplus brownfield land through the next round of BLRF funding, which is expected to be announced later this autumn.”

BGES Group, which has its northern HQ at Dinnington in South Yorkshire has worked with Irish company Asgard Controlled Environments to instal a BMS and monitoring system providing precise environmental control for a turnkey medical clean room facility in Oxford. Formerly a storage warehouse, the new facility was transformed into a research environment by clean room specialists Asgard Controlled Environments Ltd. Asgard engaged with BGES Group to design and install a BMS and monitoring system which would provide precise pressure, temperature and humidity control. The facility is being used to trial new cancer curing therapies – so this is a critical requirement to avoid contamination and spoiling of materials. Ross Schofield, Operations Manager at Asgard said: “We have a great relationship with BGES, having worked with them on several turnkey clean room projects. We know we can trust them to deliver a technical solution that meets the needs of these unique spaces. We welcomed their collaborative approach and detailed input on this project, from proposal stage through to commissioning.”