Leeds is a city on the up. It has just been voted the fifth best destination to visit in Europe by the Lonely Planet guide and was in the running to be European City of Culture in 2023.
Leeds has experienced the fastest growth of any major UK centre this decade and job creation is higher than in any other city outside London. Rental enquiries are up 15% year-on-year as thousands of people seek to move into the city’s central areas from around the UK.
Many are moving up from the South East in search of a more affordable lifestyle – and the city council estimates that over 80% of recent arrivals are under the age of 30.
As a result, the city centre is booming and a series of major residential developments in the heart of Leeds has driven impressive growth in the surrounding retail and hospitality sectors. Several major international chains have recently opened venues in the heart of the city including the trendy New York themed East 59th Rooftop Bar and Grill. This is owned by the London-based D&D group, and its name comes from the well-known Guastavino’s restaurant on New York’s East 59th Street.
“East 59th is a lively bar that looks to New York City for ideas,” says senior general manager Paul Rogers. “During the day, it’s a celebration of contemporary American dining, and in the evening it’s a sophisticated Manhattan rooftop bar with top quality drinks and cocktails to match.”
Stylish
Situated in the smart new Victoria Gate Shopping Centre, part of Victoria Leeds, which brings together the Victoria Quarter and Victoria Gate, East 59th looks like one of the Big Apple’s huge and stylish loft spaces and is reached via a winding staircase. It features exposed ceiling services along with floor to ceiling windows, concrete floors, tailored furniture and its own roof terrace.
This type of flexible venue serving customers day and night experiences steady demand for hot water from the kitchen, bar area and washrooms. As a result, one of Lochinvar’s high efficiency EcoSword water heaters was specified.
These low NOx, fully condensing gas-fired products are designed specifically for small to medium-sized commercial projects – and are ideal for restaurants. They are available in nine models with storage capacities ranging from 163 to 388 litres and with rapid hot water recovery rates from 210 to 540 litres per hour based on a temperature rise of 50°C.
EcoSword’s ‘cold zone’ heat exchanger design ensures that the unit operates in condensing mode as much as possible and, along with its fully modulating pre-mix burner, this allows it to achieve seasonal efficiencies of up to 98.2% (Building Regulations) and water heater efficiency of up to 94% (ErP). All models are WRAS certified and ‘A’ rated under the ErP Energy Labelling legislation.
With air quality also an increasingly important consideration for specifiers, EcoSword boasts NOx emissions below 37 mg/kWh across the range and, therefore, each model qualifies for the maximum three BREEAM points available.
The EcoSword range has a variety of flue options for ease of installation, and at East 59th, a room-sealed concentric horizontal balanced flue system was the most appropriate.
“Our EcoSword range was developed with just this kind of application in mind,” says Lochinvar’s managing director David Pepper. “There is growing demand across the UK for high efficiency hot water solutions, for such applications, based around the latest in low energy and low emissions technology.
“The installation at East 59th proves that fast response hot water systems have a big part to play in the continued growth of the country’s exciting and dynamic hospitality sector.”