Rushbond plc is an unlisted commercial and residential

property development Real estate development, or property development, is a business process, encompassing activities that range from the renovation and re- lease of existing buildings to the purchase of raw land and the sale of developed land or parcels to oth ...

and

investment company An investment company is a financial institution principally engaged in holding, managing and investing securities. These companies in the United States are regulated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and must be registered under th ...

in the United Kingdom. It was founded in

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a Metropolitan counties of England, metropolitan and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and east, South Yorkshire and De ...

in 1986 by Jonathan W Maud and exclusively operates around the

Leeds City Region The Leeds City Region, or informally Greater Leeds, is a local enterprise partnership City region (United Kingdom), city region located in West Yorkshire, England. Prior to the West Yorkshire devolution deal, the partnership covered parts of Sou ...

, into which it invested £14.3million in 2019. The company, though specialising in the conversion and redevelopment of listed heritage buildings, also engages in the construction of new-build property and acquisitions. Rushbond is the owner of a number of landmark buildings within Leeds, including the

Corn Exchange A corn exchange is a building where merchants trade grains. The word "corn" in British English denotes all cereal grains, such as wheat and barley; in the United States these buildings were called grain exchanges. Such trade was common in towns ...

, Majestic Cinema, and

First White Cloth Hall The 1st White Cloth Hall is a Grade II* listed building on Kirkgate, Leeds, Kirkgate, in the city centre of Leeds in West Yorkshire, England. History Originally named The White Cloth Hall, it was opened in 1711 as a response to the building ...

, as well as Bretton Hall,

Wakefield Wakefield is a cathedral city in West Yorkshire, England located on the River Calder. The city had a population of 109,766 in the 2021 census, up from 99,251 in the 2011 census. The city is the administrative centre of the wider Metropolit ...

St Leonard's Place St Leonard's Place is a street in York, England. History The site street lay mostly within the walls of Roman Eboracum, and two Anglo-Saxon carved stones and St Leonard's Place hoard, a large coin hoard have been discovered in excavations in t ...

York York is a cathedral city in North Yorkshire, England, with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss. It has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a Yor ...

and

Centenary Square Centenary Square is a public square on the north side of Broad Street in Birmingham, England, named in 1989 to commemorate the centenary of Birmingham achieving city status. The square is used as a staging area for many of the city's main cul ...

Bradford Bradford is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in West Yorkshire, England. It became a municipal borough in 1847, received a city charter in 1897 and, since the Local Government Act 1972, 1974 reform, the city status in the United Kingdo ...

. Considered within the industry to have a focus on creativity and design quality, Rushbond also involves itself in

corporate social responsibility Corporate social responsibility (CSR) or corporate social impact is a form of international private business industry self-regulation, self-regulation which aims to contribute to societal goals of a philanthropy, philanthropic, activist, or chari ...

supporting a variety of community initiatives, partnering particularly with Meanwood Valley Urban Farm, and contributes to

public art Public art is art in any Media (arts), media whose form, function and meaning are created for the general public through a public process. It is a specific art genre with its own professional and critical discourse. Public art is visually and phy ...

, funding projects such as Ian Randall's ''Steeped Vessels'' (2006) at Brewery Wharf, and

Tim Etchells Tim Etchells (born 1962) is an English artist and writer based in Sheffield and London. Etchells is the artistic director of Forced Entertainment, an experimental performance company founded in 1984. He has published several works of fiction, ...

's neon artwork ''Where the Heart Is'' (2014), located on the Algernon Firth student residential building.

History

The entrepreneur Jonathan Maud incorporated the company on 8 July 1986 and remains its managing director and sole owner. Maud appeared in the 2009

Sunday Times Rich List The ''Sunday Times Rich List'' is a list of the 1,000 wealthiest people or families resident in the United Kingdom ranked by net wealth. The list is updated annually in April and has been published as a magazine supplement by British national ...

ranked at #1,771 (#1,794 in 2008) with a worth of £30M (£40M in 2008), and was named at 82nd in the Yorkshire Rich List in 2017, with wealth risen to £67M. In 2014, Rushbond established an arts

scholarship A scholarship is a form of Student financial aid, financial aid awarded to students for further education. Generally, scholarships are awarded based on a set of criteria such as academic merit, Multiculturalism, diversity and inclusion, athleti ...

programme with

Leeds Beckett University Leeds Beckett University (LBU), formerly known as Leeds Metropolitan University (LMU) and before that as Leeds Polytechnic, is a public university in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It has campuses in the Leeds city centre, city centre and Hea ...

, known as the Rushbond Arts Scholarship. It is donated annually to School of Art, Architecture and Design undergraduates to support their early careers. One of Rushbond's buildings, the former Majestic Cinema on

City Square A town square (or public square, urban square, city square or simply square), also called a plaza or piazza, is an open public space commonly found in the heart of a traditional town or city, and which is used for community gatherings. Rel ...

, gained prominence after being gutted during a large fire in September 2014, just after the completion of works to restore and convert it into mixed leisure and retail use. A scheme to construct a new interior of high-quality office space and additional floors began in 2018, with the building becoming the new national

headquarters Headquarters (often referred to as HQ) notes the location where most or all of the important functions of an organization are coordinated. The term is used in a wide variety of situations, including private sector corporations, non-profits, mil ...

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

in 2021. Another focus of investment is the eastern side of

Leeds city centre Leeds city centre is the central business district of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is roughly bounded by the Leeds Inner Ring Road, Inner Ring Road to the north and the River Aire to the south and can be divided into several quarters. A ...

, with plans for the revitalisation of Kirkgate, Leeds's oldest street, resulting in the complete reconstruction of the Grade II* listed

, as well as ownership of

Cuthbert Brodrick Cuthbert Brodrick FRIBA (1 December 1821 – 2 March 1905) was a British architect, whose most famous building is Leeds Town Hall. Early life Brodrick was born in the Yorkshire port of Hull where his father was a well-to-do merchant and sh ...

's 1863

as a retail destination and New York House near Kirkgate Market.

Property portfolio

:''This gallery is not an exhaustive list of properties owned'' The Majestic, September 2020.jpg, The Majestic, Leeds Bretton Hall front.JPG, Bretton Hall 1-9 St Leonards Place, York (geograph 4894347).jpg,

, York City Park Bradford.jpg,

, Bradford New York Street.jpg, New York House, Leeds Crispin House, New York Road, Leeds (geograph 5180415).jpg, Crispin House, Leeds Brewery Wharf, Leeds (10th May 2010) 010.jpg, Brewery Wharf, Leeds Tower Court - Armley Road - geograph.org.uk - 551640.jpg, Tower Court, Leeds Former school board offices geograph-2724262-by-Stephen-Richards.jpg, Leeds School Board First White Cloth Hall reconstruction, September 2020.jpg, First White Cloth Hall, Leeds

References

{{reflist Companies based in Leeds Property companies of England Real estate companies established in 1986