The Springs out of town retail and leisure centre in Leeds is shaking off the challenges of the last two years with the announcement of two new retailers and strong performance figures for its existing tenants.
Landlord Thorpe Park Developments Ltd (TPDL) has agreed a deal with skin aesthetics specialist Élan Laser Clinics which has chosen The Springs for its first venture in the UK, with clinics already operational in Australia. The flagship clinic will offer personalised beauty care using advanced device treatment including laser hair removal, tattoo removal, fat freezing, injectables, Radio Frequency Microneedline, HydraFacial and LED light therapy. With five treatment rooms, the clinic will also include a specialist training facility for UK employees. Elan plans to open 10 clinics in the UK over the next 12 months with premises already targeted in Cheshire, Liverpool and London.
Anna McCartney, Group CEO for Élan Laser Clinics, said:
“We are excited to bring the Élan Laser Clinics experience to the UK. We aim to be the first-choice beauty destination dedicated to delivering a premium personalised experience and The Springs provides the perfect environment for our flagship location for treatments and training.
“The highly modern architectural design and spacious units are very fitting to our brand and the location is great for access. We like that The Springs is also safe and secure with discreet access for our clients.”
TPDL has also agreed a letting to home fragrance store, Betty Loves Candles within the pod units in the centre of The Springs. The independent retailer, which stocks a range of quality candles, diffusers and gifts, is branching out from its existing premises at Trinity Walk in Wakefield.
The smaller format pod units, which range from 1,000 – 2,261 sq ft, have proved popular with retailers due to their ‘white box’ specification which allows tenants to personalise their space quickly and cost effectively. With two further units currently under offer and one in advanced discussions there is just one pod unit remaining.
The Springs is a 350,000 sq ft shopping and leisure attraction located at the heart of award-winning business destination, Thorpe Park Leeds at Junction 46 of the M1. Outlets include the UK’s first purpose designed ODEON Luxe cinema, Next, Boots, M&S, TK Maxx, The Range, H&M, Pure Gym, Nandos, Gino D’Acampo’s My Restaurant and many more.
Despite the challenges of Covid over the last two years, The Springs has remained one of Leeds’ most popular out of town destinations. Footfall has remained consistent and retailer performance figures show as much as 25% increase in trading from pre-pandemic trading in 2019. For the twelve months from September 2020 to September 2021 the total number of consumer visits topped 1.4 million with an average daily vehicle recording of more than 4,000.
Adam Varley, Director at Scarborough Group International, which is responsible for the development and asset management of The Springs and Thorpe Park Leeds, in partnership with Legal & General Capital, said:
“In stark contrast the high street or other covered shopping centres, The Springs has performed exceptionally well throughout the pandemic, thanks to its accessibility, ample free parking and wide open spaces, all of which makes for a pleasant shopping experience.
“Its unique location in the centre of a well-established business park gives it an added edge over other competing out of town retail destinations and is one of the reasons why national and independent retailers are keen to use it as a test bed for new concept stores or flagship premises, as is the case with Élan, Vitruvian Dental Studio and The Range.”
Thorpe Park Leeds is strategically located with its own dedicated access at Junction 46 of the M1. More than 900,000 sq ft of office space is already built, supporting over 5,500 jobs. The ongoing new development at Thorpe Park Leeds was enabled following Scarborough Group International’s unique £162 million investment deal with Legal & General Capital in 2015. Since then, a transformational 1.35 million sq ft mixed-use expansion, with Grade A offices has progressed, bringing a plethora of exceptional new business opportunities to the Leeds City Region.
It has also enabled the delivery of the first section of the East Leeds Orbital Route (ELOR), a key piece of transport infrastructure connecting north and east Leeds to Junction 46 of the M1. This road also unlocks land for the future construction of over 7,000 new homes on the East Leeds area.
Further development plans include the delivery of a 113-acre public park with sports and wellbeing facilities for the community. SGI is also in the process of master planning uses for the adjacent Brown Moor site and has identified potential for further employment opportunities.
Thorpe Park Leeds has been chosen for the new railway station ‘East Leeds Parkway’ and associated Park and Ride, connecting directly to Leeds City Centre in less than eight minutes. This forms part of a £270 million infrastructure investment into Leeds by the Department of Transport.