Our new state-of-the-art business centre in Leeds is opening its doors after a £1 million refurbishment.
Suites are now ready for viewing at our Crown House complex in Armley Road – the latest addition to our portfolio of Malik House Business Centres.
The complex houses 30 serviced office suites, which vary in size from 500 to 5,000 sq ft. It also offers meeting rooms, storage units, hot-desking facilities and virtual offices, as well as meeting and events catering. Our tenants will benefit from the high-profile Yorkshire Enterprise Network business events which we run to build business relationships across the county.
The Crown House building dates back to the 1800s. It was home to the Leeds Forge Company where foundry magnate Samson Fox produced “Best Yorkshire” iron for locomotive and marine engine parts and later developed the corrugated boiler flue for which he became famous. Since buying the building in September 2013, we have carried out an extensive refurbishment to create the fully-networked suites complete with superfast broadband, featuring 100mg uncontended fibre connectivity.
The revamp also included more than 140 new 9ft tall windows, a replacement flat roof and the creation of a large communal space in the main foyer where people can mingle and relax. The centre has been fitted with the latest hi-tech security, including biometric fingerprint door and key fob entry, mobile controlled gates and intercom system and CCTV throughout. The on-site car-park has been doubled in size.
A jewel in the crown is a new energy-efficient biomass boiler system, which cost more than £160,000 to install. Two boilers are fuelled by wood pellets from trees farmed in the UK with a seven-year growth span and this is one of the most environmentally-friendly and sustainable methods of heating large buildings.
A fox weather vane on top of Crown House has been retained as a reminder that this was once the famous Samson Fox’s forge.
Director of Malik House Business Centres, Sheraz Malik, project-managed the refurbishment programme using the company’s in-house contractors for the majority of the work, with other works outsourced to local Yorkshire businesses, creating additional employment over an extended period. An additional apprentice, sales support and electrician have been taken on for the Crown House development.
Mr Malik says: “We are delighted to be expanding our operations into Leeds as our other premises are nearly full to capacity and we look forward to welcoming a whole range of businesses into the new centre. If we are able to encourage a few more companies to base themselves in Yorkshire and create some new jobs that would be an added bonus.”
“We were really excited to acquire such an amazing building which is in a prime position close to the M62 and M1 motorway junctions, just 10 minutes’ walk or a five minute drive into Leeds City Centre and only 10 minutes’ drive from Leeds-Bradford airport.”
“Crown House was being used as low-grade office space but had been neglected for some time. Parts of the building had seen no improvements for over 50 years so it’s taken a lot of hard work and major investment to bring it up to the modern standards our business clients expect. Added touches like the biomass boiler enable us and our clients to play our parts as socially-responsible companies. I’m not sure what Samson Fox would have thought about the modern-day boilers!”
Businesses wanting to move into Crown House should contact Sheraz Malik at the Oakwood Court business centre in Bradford on 01274 303900.
Background Information
• As well as the new Crown House premises, The Malik House Business Centres group has centres at Oakwood Court, on City Road, Bradford; Manor Row in Bradford City Centre; and James Street, Blackburn. We are proud of our reputation for combining meticulously-restored Victorian architecture with modern business facilities.
• The Yorkshire Enterprise Network is a well-known arm of our group, organising high-profile events across the region to promote business relationships and boost the local economy.
• Leeds Forge Company was established at Castleton Fields, Armley, in 1874 as makers of corrugated furnace tubes and pressed steel rolling stock. The company also produced industrial locomotives in the early years. The site extended back to the Leeds & Liverpool canal and had rail links and sidings with both the Midland and North Eastern railways. The business was bought by in 1923 by Cammell Laird who closed the Leeds complex in 1929.
• According to local people, the premises is said to have been occupied by a company called Gordon McKay’s during World War 11, when it reputedly held German POWs. There is also mention of Daimler cars using the site during the 1950s.
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