Galliford Try appoints GHD for highway design at Monk Bridge development in Leeds
GHD, a world leading professional services companies, has been appointed by Galliford Try, the leading UK construction group, to provide site-wide highway design services for the Monk Bridge development in Leeds city centre.
GHD will design the development’s roads, pedestrian walkways and entry and exit points, ensuring optimum safety. The GHD team, which has been delivering the project remotely during lockdown, will be responsible for the safe flow of traffic and pedestrians through the development during and after construction. This includes taking social distancing into account in light of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
The £105m scheme is set to transform the south west of Leeds city centre as the former Monk Bridge steelworks site, which has been dormant for over a decade, is redeveloped into a new and vibrant community. Galliford Try is the lead contractor for the 665-home development, which is being constructed on behalf of Highline Investments.
As part of the redevelopment, the Grade II-listed Victorian viaduct of the defunct Leeds and Thirsk railway will be refurbished to create a new plaza providing retail and hospitality units, as well as a new entry point into the city centre. The site’s listed status and constrained nature pose a number of challenges with regard to road and pathway design, and so GHD’s expertise will be key.
GHD has been a trusted design partner of Galliford Try’s for 15 years, working across a wide variety of projects. Most recently, Galliford Try called upon GHD’s UK Water division to provide design support on Thames Water’s AMP7 capital programmes framework across London and Thames Valley.
Victoria Brayshaw, Project Director at GHD, said: “The Monk Bridge development in Leeds is a significant scheme that will rejuvenate this long-dormant site in the heart of the city. GHD has previous experience in the area, at Latitude, and we are delighted to be playing a role in transforming the cityscape further. We are committed to creating lasting community benefit through innovative and solution-led urban design, and look forward to applying our expertise and experience to this ambitious project.”
Sean Sweet, Operations Manager at Galliford Try, commented: “We are delighted to have GHD onboard to deliver best-in-class highway design solutions for this project. We have a long and successful history of working with the company, which is why we have entrusted them with this challenging aspect of the development. This is one of the most important construction schemes to have taken place in Leeds city centre in years and so it’s crucial that we have a first class team in place.”
