Harris Creative certainly know their way around the built environment. We catch up with Kirsty Scott, joint managing director at Harris Creative, to talk about their third year at Calls Landing.
Approaching their third year at Calls Landing, Harris Creative know their way around the built environment, making it extra special that they chose us as the building to celebrate their 35th anniversary.
Moving here from St Michael’s Hall in Headingley, they were looking for something to match their business; creative, modern and full of character.
We caught up with Kirsty, the joint managing director of Harris Creative, to discuss why they moved, what they found and how things have been since they moved into Calls Landing.
Kirsty: Of course, my name’s Kirsty Scott, and I work with Harris Creative. Harris is a full-service marketing agency specialising in the construction and built environment sectors.
I joined Harris as PR director in 2017, and in 2020 myself and our former design director Neil Craven completed a management buyout, and are now joint managing directors of the business. This year we’re celebrating Harris Creative’s 35th anniversary, so it’s a big year!
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Kirsty: We’ve been at Calls Landing for three years now – the location is excellent, and having previously worked in a former church hall, we wanted a building with character and out of the different premises we looked at, Calls Landing stood out as being the right fit for us. Plus, it’s a bonus to have a restaurant and pub in the same building!
Kirsty: Everyone was very positive about the move – we worked with the team to provide a corporate travel plan so that people could arrange their commutes as most people used to drive to our old office but Calls Landing is so well-connected for public transport. People commented that after just a few weeks, it felt like we’d been here for years, which was a great sign that we’d made the right choice.
Kirsty: The biggest difference is that the different departments feel like more of a cohesive team overall, whereas before, our office layout didn’t lend itself to collaboration. That and people are more inclined to socialise now that they have the whole of Leeds on their doorstep and fewer people are commuting by car.
Kirsty: Definitely the management buyout! But other than that, winning upwards of 20 new clients in the past two years and seeing the team grow and thrive in this environment.
Kirsty: We wanted new, modern premises that reflected the business as it is today: and yes, Calls Landing definitely does this.
Kirsty: Yes. We find that the riverside, city centre location helps with recruitment as it’s such a great place to spend your days. After the various lockdowns, it’s been great to see the enthusiasm for being back here as people want to spend more time together and spend more time in the city generally.
Kirsty: We’re fully supportive of the team adopting hybrid working. The office is here as a resource when people need it, and we trust the team to set their own schedules and working patterns. We were doing that where needed pre-pandemic anyway, so it hasn’t been a huge shift for us!
Kirsty: We’re making some changes to the space – including a neon sign with our logo and adding some large prints of street photography taken by our former MD Jim Harris. We’re planning to be in the office a little more regularly and are starting to welcome clients back for meetings too. And we’re expanding the team, having won a couple of high-profile new clients and expanded our remit with some existing clients too. It’s an exciting time.
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Kirsty: It had a lot of history and a lot of memories for several of the team – but we felt very much at home in Calls Landing immediately, so no regrets.
Thanks for speaking with us, Kirsty! It was great to learn a little more about yourself, Harris Creative and to hear how well you’re settling into Calls Landing.