Project Brief

11 & 12 Wellington Place are two prominent new landmark buildings in the heart of Leeds City Centre, developed to set the standards for sustainability and energy efficiency. The buildings have successfully met ambitious targets, including NABERS 5*, BREEAM Outstanding, and EPC A, making them some of the UK’s most sustainable buildings. Set within the wider Wellington Place scheme and developed by MEPC, the new buildings add to one of the most prestigious business quarters in Europe, providing over 250,000 square feet of business, leisure, and retail space.

Solution

Marshalls supported the main contractor Wates in the hard landscaping for the external environment using a range of granites from their natural stone portfolio. While popular Chinese granites were used for their unmatched aesthetic, stones from the European collection were selected where possible to minimise transport-related carbon emissions. This included Arche bespoke kerbs and planter walling, blasted Mizar paving, and Dorado and Umbriel flamed paving, all providing beautifully complementary grey tones. This represented the first time Portuguese granites were used in the development.

The very dark hues of Prospero granite created a smart, appealing, and safe welcome to the building entrance, providing contrast in the step detail and being used in the tactile paving on the approach. Marshalls' design and engineering specialist team provided guidance to reduce the thickness of the paving from its original specification, ensuring sizes, depths, and types of stone were not over-engineered but met the scheme's requirements. This resulted in both carbon and cost reductions in the external landscaping.

Client Comments

Daniel Miller, Project Director at Wates, said:

“Wates have worked with Marshalls on the Wellington Place development for several years now and we continued that relationship at 11 & 12 Wellington Place. Marshalls welcomed the challenge we set them when we asked them to assist in helping to reduce embodied carbon on the Project and through their natural stone engineering expertise and worldwide portfolio of product we estimate to have saved more than 110t of Co2.”