Majestic (Leeds)

OVERVIEW

Commanding a prominent gateway position on City Square opposite the railway station, Majestic is one of Leeds’ most iconic buildings with a rich and varied history holding memories for generations of people.

It was originally built as a cinema in 1922 before becoming a ballroom in the 1950s and a bingo club in the late 1960s.

Historic England awarded it listed status in 1993 and later that decade opened as the Majestyk nightclub before being used as a concert venue until 2008.

It was acquired by Rushbond Group in 2010 with the aim of returning the building to its former glory by transforming it into a contemporary new office development that is home to Channel 4’s new national headquarters.

We designed, installed and project managed MEP services across 66,000 sq ft of contemporary Grade A workspaces including leisure spaces, a three storey atrium reception and three roof terraces.

New floors were built into the structure, roof terraces on levels four and five added and an iconic new glass crown roof created called Palm Court Dome.

CHALLENGE

Limited structural information caused a delay at the beginning of the programme and Covid-19 saw the site shut down completely for one and a half weeks just as we entered the final phase of works.

When it reopened, our engineers were only allowed entry in a reduced capacity to ensure social distancing.

We created day and night shift teams and even though an hour was lost every day due to the intensive cleaning that took place in between shifts, we always maintained the programme.

The retained façade meant it was quite a complex project in parts. Some floors were structured in such a way that we did not have areas for bulkhead ventilation, requiring us instead to take it from the central plant.

SOLUTION

G&H Building Services designed and installed a ventilation system into the listed façade; VRF air conditioning to provide heating and cooling to the internal spaces; and, a building management system.

LED lighting, power, fire alarms, security systems, CCTV, data and door access were also installed, while the mechanical plant was craned into place on the roof.

From a design perspective, we have future-proofed the MEP for a variety of scenarios.

For example, should some of the office space be divided for more occupants, services such as heating, ventilation and air conditioning can be used in isolation so temperatures are bespoke to each part of the office space rather than universally controlled.

Sustainability-wise, we installed a variety of low energy features to help the project achieve a ‘very good’ BREEAM rating – one of which was Encore, the world’s first cistern to use air conditioning condensate to flush the toilet.

Our sophisticated external lighting design adds a striking dimension to Leeds’ night-time skyline by illuminating the Grade II listed building to showcase a key feature of the city’s historic architecture.

Due to the nature of the project, we assigned two full-time apprentices to the Majestic so they could learn the intricacies of retaining a façade and what was in effect a new building behind it.

RESULTS

The result is one of the best contemporary office spaces of its type not only in Leeds but nationally too, home to Channel 4’s new national headquarters and Knights PLC.