The University of Huddersfield has received the green light to start work on the first new building of its National Health Innovation Campus. At a time when the NHS desperately needs to recruit staff to meet with the demands of patient care and health inequalities, the campus will be instrumental in training the next generation of health professionals. This transformative project will enable the rapid expansion of courses in nursing, midwifery, allied health and human sciences and contribute to the economic prosperity of the region. This first building on the Southgate site marks an exciting stage in the development, which will improve health outcomes and lead innovation in healthcare for the North of England. The building will be named after Daphne Steele, an inspirational nurse and midwife who became the first black matron in Britain. Daphne trained at St James’ Hospital in Balham, South London, after emigrating to the UK from Guyana in 1951. She worked in the US but returned to the UK and served as a nurse at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire before moving to Manchester as deputy matron at a nursing home. When that home closed, she was encouraged to apply for the position of matron at St Winifred’s Hospital in Ilkley, West Yorkshire. She became the first black matron in Britain and her appointment made news around the world. University Vice-Chancellor Professor Bob Cryan said: “I am delighted with this latest development, and it is another significant step towards our goal of improving health outcomes and leading innovation in healthcare for the North of England. It is an honour to have this first building named after Daphne Steele and I would like to thank her family for this. Such a ground-breaking figure is sure to inspire our students in their future careers.” The National Health Innovation Campus will work with partners across the region to address some of the health and wellbeing issues facing Yorkshire and the Humber, including high levels of obesity, the third lowest life expectancy for men and women, and the second highest rate of deaths in infancy. The campus will feature specialist clinical teaching facilities, world leading research facilities, public facing clinics and co-located public and private sector partners. It will directly impact on the health outcomes of the people and communities across the North of England. Health and wellbeing of individuals, medical technologies and associated services provide a key focus for economic development and business productivity, and the campus will deliver a major boost to regeneration and jobs. Growth in the School of Human and Health Sciences has already delivered over 200 additional skilled jobs in the past four years, and planned development will deliver at least 100 more in the next five. Further, a growing international profile will see a huge expansion in training and education work, quadrupling activity on the levels of 2018-19 by 2026 with major implications for inward investment. Working with a range of stakeholders across the public, private and voluntary sectors will open up a diversity of income streams as well as opportunities for product and service development and design.

The first spade has gone into the ground at Latimer’s flagship development on Kirkstall Road in Leeds, with a number of key local stakeholders from Leeds City Council and West Yorkshire Combined Authority attending a ceremony to officially mark the start of work. Martin Farrington, director of city development at Leeds City Council, Adam Brannen, head of regeneration at Leeds City Council and Melanie Corcoran, director of delivery at West Yorkshire Combined Authority, were present for the ceremony at the site of the £350m development. The development on Kirkstall Road is being delivered by Latimer, the development arm of Clarion Housing Group, the housing association. Once complete, it will create a new district on the banks of River Aire, providing 1,792 homes, including 355 student rooms and over 4,000 square metres of commercial space.  The development will set a new benchmark for the provision of affordable homes in Leeds, with over 500 of the properties to be available on affordable tenures including social rent and shared ownership. The Latimer scheme at Kirkstall Road will also deliver 2.2 hectares of green infrastructure including a new square, a riverside park and reinstatement of an existing bridge over the river – actively seeking to promote alternative modes of travel, encouraging walking, cycling and the use of public transport. Richard Cook, group development director at Latimer, said: “It has been fantastic to finally mark the start of work at what is set to be a game-changing regeneration of the Kirkstall Road corridor and the land alongside the River Aire. “The area has seen little in the way of regeneration in the last 20 years and this scheme will give a new lease of life to Kirkstall Road and Leeds as a whole, providing a high-quality mixed use, tenure blind, sustainable community that will attract residents, businesses and visitors.” The development is set to offer a range of one-bed, two-bed and three-bed homes and planning has been granted for 259 parking spaces to be delivered as part of the project. 50 per cent of these will have electric vehicle charging points fully installed and the remainder will have the necessary infrastructure in place to facilitate further electric vehicle charging points should demand require. Martin Farrington, director of city development at Leeds City Council, said: “This marks the start of a major mixed-use investment in a long-vacant brownfield site that will kick-start the regeneration of the Kirkstall Riverside corridor, and it strongly aligns with our plans to meet the housing needs of all our residents and communities. “As new developers in the city Latimer and Clarion Housing Group have brought a very welcome collaborative approach and ambition, which will see the delivery of over 500 affordable homes on this site. I look forward to seeing this project progress and to continuing our positive relationship on this and future schemes.” As the development arm of Clarion Housing Group, Latimer is committed to building homes for all tenures and reinvests any surplus back into the organisation to support its social mission. In 2020/21 Latimer built a record 2,136 homes – 90 per cent of which were affordable. Latimer is also working with Leeds City Council and Leeds-based homelessness charity St George’s Crypt to provide short term homes on the site. 10 modular units, which include one management office, have been constructed on site and are being managed 24-hours a day by St George’s Crypt. Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire and Chair of the West Yorkshire Combined Authority, said: “Schemes like this are vital to address the housing shortage across West Yorkshire with affordable and sustainable homes. “Everyone deserves a good, secure home and we will continue to develop brownfield land across the region and regenerate places like Kirkstall to bring new jobs into the region. “This project will also support the incredible work of St George’s Crypt and play a small part in providing much needed help to those struggling with homelessness.” Following the commencement of enabling works at the site, the main works will commence next summer, with the first homes projected to go on sale in 2024 and the first residents moving in in 2025.

Strategic real estate advisor Avison Young, acting on behalf of Slough Borough Council, has completed the sale of Euroway 26, Bradford to an undisclosed buyer. The Council has owned the out-of-borough investment since 2019 and the sale marks the start of a series of disposals of council-owned assets, agreed as part of the government intervention in the borough following the financial collapse of the council in 2021. Euroway 26, Bradford, is a prime industrial asset encompassing 200,747 sq ft GIA, refurbished extensively in 2018. Located in the centre of the Northern Powerhouse region, Euroway is ideally positioned between the major economic centres of Leeds and Manchester. The asset is currently let to the well-established logistics operator Expect Distribution on a 15-year lease from March 2019. In the present cycle, the logistics market in Yorkshire has been typified by a lack of supply of units in the 100,000 to 250,000 sq ft range, both new build and second-hand, which presented an additional pull to buyers in the market. James Yates, director in Capital Markets, Avison Young, said: “We are delighted to have completed this sale on behalf of our client against the current economic backdrop. The asset was acquired only three years ago, and the sale demonstrates that there remains a market for well-located logistics buildings with good fundamentals.” Councillor Rob Anderson, lead member for financial oversight and council assets at Slough Borough Council, said: “This first sale is a milestone in our programme to divest the council of surplus property assets, to reduce our borrowing and bring the council back to a stable financial footing. “Cabinet agreed that a package of the council’s out-of-borough investment properties were sold first, as these are surplus to our operational requirements, don’t have significance to local people in the way some of our assets in the town do, and aren’t always producing strong rental income anymore, given recent changes in the economic landscape. “I am delighted this first sale has completed, with the other sales we are transacting, as these support the council’s financial recovery by producing significant capital receipts and reducing our borrowing and debt charges.”