The Terrace, Wellington Place, Leeds

It was clear that finding the right person to run The Terrace was key, so our team moved quickly and began recruiting for the role of Venue Manager. We were lucky to find Tara Grant. Tara is someone with a great range of skills who ensures both the operational quality and the first-class customer experience that we were looking for.

We identified who our key service partners and suppliers would be and worked with all parties to set up an operation that would deliver a brand and experience in keeping with that of Wellington Place.  We continued our recruitment into the autumn to ensure that a second member of the team was in place to develop their knowledge ahead of the launch.  We enjoyed the buzz of the final days leading up to the launch event, and it was all on hands on deck (including a few trips to Ikea!) to achieve the final finishing touches.

Our Terrace and off-site teams work as one to ensure charge raising, allocation of incoming funds and payments to our service providers is seamless. Our Wellington Place team are fully connected to the rest of our business, visited regularly and encouraged in turn to visit our offices and managed properties and to join all company-wide events. Key to their development is training, and we provide every member of our team with a bespoke programme centred around customer service brilliance. 

Post-launch, we have been delighted with the results. The venue is well-known to the occupier community within Wellington Place and it is widely promoted on social media.  In October 2019, our income projection was exceeded by more than double and we continue to receive increasing levels of bookings.  We have learned some valuable lessons along the way and, in particular, the value of involvement at the design stage, making the management operation much easier upon completion.

Like all businesses in the hospitality industry, COVID-19 hit us hard. We reacted quickly and responsibly and, as a result, were back open on Monday 13th July with all appropriate measures in place. We remained contactable throughout lockdown, and the reopening date was driven by the number of enquiries we had to get back to face-to-face meetings, albeit from a safe distance. The Terrace benefits from moveable walls to increase the size of rooms and a large roof terrace for outdoor meetings, break out spaces and lots of fresh air!

Now, more than ever, The Terrace is in demand and our team are working as hard as ever to deliver the exceptional standards our customers have come to expect.