Newsletter – Q2 2025

Hello and happy summer from the Rodgers Leask team. Welcome to our Q2 newsletter – the best place to hear about the projects, events and networking that kept us busy during the first few months of 2025.

As always, don’t forget, we’re also interested to hear what you are working on and if we can support you. To get in touch with one of our team, email us at rlladmin@rodgersleask.co.uk or call 01332 285000. 

To stay up to date with our latest news and project updates make sure to follow us on LinkedIn.

Behind the scenes 

We welcomed several new faces to the Rodgers Leask team during Q2, including associate transport planner Joanna Reid in Bristol and principal engineer Tom Nunn – who we have welcomed back to the civils team in Derby.

Joanna is already playing a pivotal role in shaping our transport planning offering in the South West and supporting our push into the renewable sector. Tom, who began his career with us in 2004, has joined the fold once again, bringing with him a deep understanding of the region along with fresh perspectives.

Q2 also saw the exciting announcement that we have been appointed to the £500 million JV North social housebuilding framework, which will see the development of around 3,000 homes over the next four years. This appointment builds on our momentum in the North West and, along with the Innovation Chain North framework, supports our growth into the affordable housing sector.

We had the chance to attend a fantastic event hosted by Marketing Derby at the newly refurbished Grade II listed Derby Market Hall. Our structures team played a key role in the project, supporting both the roof refurbishment and the internal reconfiguration of the landmark building.

With a flexible new layout and refurbished roof that floods the venue with warm, natural light, the Market Hall is set to be a spectacular space for the people of Derby to enjoy, hosting a range of street food outlets and pop-up stalls.

Our annual golf day at Mickleover Golf Club returned in June, with fifteen teams joining us for a hot day on the course competing in a Texas Scramble format. It was a brilliant opportunity to catch up with contacts with a change of scenery and some healthy competition. Thank you to all that came along and congratulations again to the winning team. Until next year!

Industry Insights

Turning to our projects, the Nottingham office continues to support contractor Stepnell with the delivery of the Staveley 21 project, a new scheme aiming to improve the town centre, with the latest phase implementing the steelwork for the new Staveley Library almost complete.

Our civil, structural and geo-environmental teams are all on hand for various stages of the project, which includes improvements such as new paving, seating, tree planting, a town centre play area and the new building housing Staveley Library.

Our director Howel Morris took part in the NHBC Panel event in July, exploring the regeneration of Longbridge – once the home of MG Rover and one of the largest manufacturing facilities in Europe. With enabling works now underway, the panel took a deep dive into the challenges the brownfield site faced. Our principal engineering geologist Andrew Smith and senior geo environmental consultant Florence Trahair were also on hand, leading groups of interested guests around during the afternoon’s site visit.  

In May, our directors Kriston Harvey, Howel Morris, Kully Toor, and associate director Matt Harrison were back in Leeds for another exciting year of making connections and catching up with contacts at UKREiiF 2025. During the three-day event they were able to discuss regeneration and development in the UK with stakeholders from across the industry.

After a jam-packed schedule of panel sessions and fringe events, the team came away from the event with fresh perspectives, potential projects in the pipeline, and a game plan for approaching next year’s event. You can read the team’s key takeaways from UKREiiF 2025 on our website now.

Another standout project this quarter was our collaboration with long-term delivery partner PowerCem Technologies, delivering a cutting-edge 25,000 sq m sustainable wetland in South Elmsall, Wakefield. Our multidisciplinary teams were involved across the scheme, from the geotechnical design and final layout of the wetland cells to the soil sampling and site monitoring and verification. Designed to manage storm overflows, significantly reduce carbon emissions, eliminate waste, and enable full recyclability at the end of the project’s life, the wetland is the first of its kind and it was a rewarding process to be involved in.

In the community

In June, we celebrated planning approval for the expansion of Lubbesthorpe Primary School from 2FE to 3FE, increasing its capacity to 630 pupils. Our civil and structural teams are supporting the delivery of nine new classrooms, breakout and group rooms, along with a diverse range of outdoor spaces for play, sports and learning, along with additional staff parking.

We were also proud to see the new Sustainable Travel Hub at the University of Derby shortlisted in the Constructing Excellence East Midlands Awards for ‘Building Project of the Year’ and ‘Infrastructure Project of the Year’.

Our work on the project, which has provided sustainable travel choices for staff and students at the university, consisted of a multi-disciplinary approach. During the early phases, we worked with the university on the designs for an emergency through route and the existing carriageway for pedestrian crossings. We also outlined a plan for the various surface finishes and their extents, along with catchment plans and hydraulic calculations used to design the surface water drainage.

Our structures team was involved in the design of the timber canopy structure as well as the reinforced concrete raft foundation. Our civil engineering design work provided a drainage solution that mitigated the need for below ground attenuation tanks and instead utilised the storage available within the permeable paving.

Finally, a thank you to Matthew Koren who visited Stephenson College in Coalville to teach apprenticeship students the fundamentals of building structures, steel and concrete design, helping support the students with an upcoming assignment. We’re committed to getting out in the local community and supporting future careers in engineering, so, as always, it was encouraging to see the session so well received and we wish the students the best of luck with their assignments.

To find out more of our latest news visit: https://rodgersleask.com/news/