Developers at Thorpe Park Leeds, the city’s largest business park which employs over 4500 workers through 60 businesses, have launched a series of free bicycle health checks on site to support its Travel Plan initiative.
Dr Bike is a new monthly mobile service where workers can drop in with their bikes for a free health check and security chipping service, offered by a trained mechanic.
Georgina Stares at TPS Transport Consultants Ltd, which is retained to manage the development and implementation of sustainable travel-related measures at Thorpe Park Leeds, said, “After an extremely successful trial we are delighted to introduce Dr Bike at Thorpe Park Leeds as a monthly benefit to all employees on site. This forms part of the ‘ParkLife’ initiative, which concentrates on working with occupiers and their employees to foster an environment that encourages business engagement and delivers site-wide events and travel support.”
Dr Bike has proved so successful that a free cycle maintenance session has now been planned for employees to learn the basics on how to maintain their bike.
TPS has also set up a Bicycle User Group (BUG) as a means to engage with regular cyclists to ensure that measures introduced to encourage and support cycling to work are those likely to have the biggest impact.
Mark Jackson at Scarborough Group International which owns the site in partnership with Legal & General Capital, said, “At Thorpe Park Leeds we recognise that a great working environment isn’t just about the building you are based in, it’s about the community you are a part of.
“We are now embarking on the next significant stage of development to deliver over 1.3 million sq ft of mixed use accommodation and anticipate that nearly 13,500 people with work on site when completed. it is therefore fundamental that we continue our investment to excel in our support to all employees on site. Dr Bike is one of many initiatives that we are introducing to support greener actions at Thorpe Park Leeds.”
Thorpe Park Leeds is a well-established 800,000 sq ft business park with over 60 occupiers including IBM, National Grid, Kier, Laing O’Rourke, Atkins, BAM and United Utilities.
Delivery of the next phase of development follows last year’s announcement that Legal & General Capital were to invest £162 million as joint development partner with Scarborough Group International. Preparation work is already underway to deliver a new 300,000 sq ft shopping and leisure park and the first phase of 940,000 sq ft of offices. The development also includes 300 new homes by Redrow and a 113-acre public park with sports facilities.
Phase two also includes delivery of the first section of the ‘East Leeds Orbital Road’, a key piece of infrastructure connecting north and east Leeds to Junction 46 of the M1. This road will unlock land for the construction of up to 7,000 new homes in the East Leeds area, land that is either already allocated in the Local Plan or which is ‘brownfield’.
Thorpe Park Leeds recently won the coveted ‘Best Deal’ Award at the Yorkshire Property Awards for its groundbreaking funding arrangement with Legal & General Capital.