Leeds City Council staff have completed their move back into Merrion House following a £70 million refurbishment project.

The 18-month scheme was carried out by BAM Construction to improve council services for residents.

Designed by BDP Architects, features include creating new accessible meeting rooms, toilets, break out areas and wellbeing space, providing around 170,000 sq ft of office space including an increase of 50,000 sq ft thanks to a new six-storey extension.

A new city centre hub on the ground floor incorporates enquiry positions, meeting rooms, self-service points and waiting areas combining public access to all main council services with additional partner services.

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Overall, more than 2,000 staff, including some from West Yorkshire Police and Leeds Community Health Care, will be based at Merrion House, bringing the city centre office workforce to 2,570 people.

Cllr Richard Lewis said: "This city centre refurbishment and public space remodelling has allowed us to address the dual challenges of improving services while reducing the number of city centre buildings.

"These plans are also part of our commitment to making public spaces in the city centre, wherever possible, look more attractive, welcoming and people-friendly. This is a clear move away from the stale and dated concrete and traffic-first look and feel of the 1960s, seventies and eighties."

Edward Ziff, chairman and chief executive of property developer Town Centre Securities, said: "Merrion House forms a key part of the continued multimillion pound investment and regeneration of Merrion Centre and the surrounding Arena Quarter area.

"The public-private partnership approach between Leeds City Council and Town Centre Securities has been a huge success for all involved and we’ve been pleased to play our part in supporting the council as it evolves its services with significant operational cost savings."

Image credit: BDP.

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