Browns Construction Group - Mixed-Use Development - Barnsley, Gateway Plaza

Date: 23 Jun 2008

Rapid progress is being made at the £70M Gateway Plaza scheme in Barnsley as Phase 1 of the framework is now complete. The car park levels are now in place, work on the residential framework has begun this week and the offices framework is rising with a floor completed every month.

Browns Construction Group is working to a tight schedule and this month marks the start of a three month internal fit out of the car park. Since work started on the offices framework in March this year, the floors have been completed on a monthly basis. The six floors of office accommodation, each spanning 15,000sq ft, are on track for their September completion date. Work on the residential framework also started this week and will be completed by February 2009.

Nick Elliot, Director at Landmark Development Projects, joint developer on Gateway Plaza with Quest Property says; "With the substantial progress made on site since the framework began this March, people can now really get a feel for the scale and layout of the scheme. With the site being on a steep gradient, the initial stages of work on the land have been complex to allow the foundations for the several tiers to be built. It is for this reason that despite the huge amount of work undertaken in the first few months, the site did not visually change a great deal. However, from this point onwards, the scheme is transforming daily and we are delighted with how well work is progressing."

Local office agent, Andrew Corbett from Smiths Chartered Surveyors is joint offices agent with Jones Lang LaSalle and Lambert Smith Hampton. From his base in Barnsley, Andrew has been witnessing the progress and hearing the town's reaction. He says; "There's definitely an air of excitement about Gateway Plaza now that people can see how the scheme will look. It is always difficult for people to visualise a new development, particularly something like this which is the first of its kind in the town. Since the cranes arrived on the site changing the Barnsley skyline, there has been great anticipation among the people both within the town and further afield. With framework now rising so quickly, the feedback has been incredibly positive with people genuinely excited to see the finished product."

Upon its completion in 2009, Gateway Plaza will offer 96,000sq ft of open plan prime office accommodation in addition to 188 one, two and three bedroom apartments, the recently secured 110 bed Premier Inn and restaurant, 21,000sq ft of retail and leisure space and a 548 space car park all built around a large, modern central plaza.

Gateway Plaza aerial

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