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City Square House is a Grade A office building developed by McAleer & Rushe as part of Leeds City Council’s ‘City Square’ vision to revitalise a key gateway into the city centre. The building boasts 140,000 square feet of prime office space spread over 12 floors, 10 electric vehicle (EV) charging points, photovoltaic solar panels, and air–source heat pumps for heating and cooling.
This project was completed by Energetics, which was fully integrated into the existing Last Mile group in March 2026. While the company name has been rebranded to Last Mile, the team, expertise, safety and commitment to quality service remain the same.
Working directly opposite Leeds Central train station brought a series of significant challenges. The team had to carry out the works while several other utility upgrades were happening simultaneously, creating intense pressure on space, access, and coordination. A major one-way diversion and the temporary closure of a busy taxi rank were unavoidable, increasing public and stakeholder scrutiny and placing a strong emphasis on keeping disruption to an absolute minimum.
As Energetics excavated a route for the high voltage (HV) cables, several issues arose. The cables that the incumbent network operator indicated to make the HV connection were not live, and obtaining location confirmation of the live cables was proving to be a challenge. This necessitated a complete street closure and larger excavation, during which 1920s tram lines and cable infrastructure were uncovered creating further complications when identifying the required parts of the network.
Despite the challenges of dead cables and historical infrastructure, the team worked methodically to identify the correct live network. A 1,500kVA substation was installed internally, allowing for Energetics to also create a low-voltage (LV) network for the building alongside the HV connection, which was completed while maintaining the highest safety standards in the congested city centre location.
The scale, location, and number of affected stakeholders made communication paramount. Constant contact was maintained throughout with Leeds City Council and the Distribution Network Operator (DNO), ensuring road closures were reopened as quickly as possible, minimising impact on the busy city-centre location. The team was able to take pressure off the developer by placing Energetics’ contact details on all road closure and taxi rank notices, thereby handling queries and complaints directly.
Energetics provided McAleer & Rushe a single point of contact from design and build through to energisation, simplifying communications and providing a consistent customer experience. This relationship also ensured continuous visibility whenever unforeseen issues arose.
Despite the unexpected challenges, Energetics completed the works in October 2023 and energised the site on time. This allowed McAleer & Rushe to finish the development as planned and secure major tenants for this Grade A location, including DLA Piper, Grant Thornton, Markel, Liberty Global and Barnett Waddingham.
With Energetics handling stakeholder communications directly, McAleer & Rushe could focus on building delivery while minimising reputational risk during the high-profile works. This avoided the resource drain of managing complaints and queries and – coupled with working swiftly to reopen closed roads – helped maintain public confidence in the broader City Square regeneration project.
Once energised, Energetics’ sister company, Last Mile Asset Management, adopted the network and substation. Energetics were able to reduce developer’s capital expenditure by offsetting asset value payments given by Last Mile Asset Management. In addition to this upfront cost reduction, Last Mile also maintains and manages the network ensuring the long-term optimal performance of the infrastructure, backed up with dedicated support.
