Your chance to grow at Wellington Place!

Wellington Place is offering all Leeds-based companies the chance to grow their own fruit and veg in the city for a year in one of our exclusive urban gardens.

The 6ft by 4 ft foot urban garden will provide the winning company the opportunity to work together as a team, sharing the responsibility for tending the garden between all employees throughout the year.

As well as acting as a valuable team-building exercise, gardening can have a whole host of social benefits including boosting physical and mental health, improving the environment, strengthening communities and growing fresh, healthy food.

A total of 21 small, urban gardens have already been snapped up by surrounding companies which say that the daily gardening has helped bring employees together at lunchtime and encouraged friendly competition between businesses, as well as reducing stress and proving to be a good source of exercise.

Wellington Place initially introduced 12 urban gardens in 2009 but has expanded the site to accommodate a further nine plots due to popular demand.

The urban gardens were developed as part of MEPC’s pledge to create a vibrant, business community during the downturn. While many of the UK’s developers opted to mothball paralysed sites, MEPC bucked the trend and invested £1 million turning part of its 22 acre Wellington Place site into an area that could be enjoyed by those who live and work in the surrounding area.

For your chance to become part of the Wellington Place city centre resource, email dsimcox@mepc.com before 28th February with the reason why your company should be the one to tend to the urban garden up for grabs.

The January 2013 British Military Fitness Offer, UK’s no. 1 for outdoor fitness

British Military Fitness (BMF) is the UK’s largest provider of exercise classes which take place in the great outdoors in parks throughout the country. Each class lasts for an hour and caters for all levels of ability and the BMF instructors ensure that no one is made to feel left out. They will motivate participants, and above all, make it fun.

The BMF offer for you is:

    A FREE trial session before the end of January 2013
    Join in January and pay nothing until 1 February (on a six month minimum contract)
    A FREE 21 day nutrition plan from The Food Doctor
    No joining fee if you join within 24hrs of your last trial class

To redeem the offer please click on the following link https://www.britmilfit.com/try-bmf-for-free/ and enter the following promotional code ELLBMF when you sign up for the ‘try a free class’.

Leeds Commercial Property Market 2013 Insight with Rick de Blaby

The commercial property market in Leeds has been subdued in recent years, but as we enter 2013, the city is seeing what could be the green shoots of a possible recovery.

Here, MEPC Chief Executive Rick de Blaby shares his thoughts on why he thinks the city can finally look forward with confidence, after years of having little to celebrate.

“The property market has not been at its strongest since the recession hit the UK in 2008, with new builds having to be put on hold due to a lack of confidence and financial backing,” said Mr de Blaby.

“However, many of these projects are now back underway due to growing optimism within the sector.

“The new Trinity Leeds Shopping Centre is leading the way but this could potentially be the tip of the iceberg in terms of developments.

“The office space market is also picking up considerably and many major companies are beginning to realise the vast potential that the city can provide for their businesses. I’ve personally had some exciting conversations which have further enhanced my belief in the sector.

“If you look at 2014, 2015, 2016, there are quite a lot of requirements coming through with nobody adding to supply in the city. That produces some exciting market dynamics.

“I believe we will see the start of some exciting developments in 2013, with more and bigger deals being done than we have seen for a few years.”

What do you think? Let us know us know your thoughts by tweeting us @wp_leeds using the hashtag #LeedsProperty.