Leeds

By Yulia

Leeds South Bank

When putting together a programme for the PCUK’s first visit to Leeds in June 2023, we wanted to take our members – who would likely have attended the annual UKREiiF in Leeds in May- to sites and projects that would represent a true spectrum and scale of the ongoing transformation in the city. Unlike many of our tours, this one had several different hosts each bringing their unique perspective (property management, placemaking, development, design, and architecture) and fascinating insight. It was a fantastic field trip, true to the PCUK’s spirit of connection and open exchange.

Leeds, a fast-changing and happening regional hub, is attracting transformational investment to drive its net zero agenda and objectives of sustainable economic growth, and innovation. There is a marked push for traffic-free areas and sustainable active travel modes. In one packed afternoon, we were fortunate to visit three significant ongoing projects that are transforming vast areas south of River Aire, of which many have a glorious industrial past. The tour bookended with a visit to the iconic Leeds Corn Exchange to see how a major recently completed public realm project contributed to a renewed vibrancy of this important central site. 

Leeds Dock and Department

We started the tour appropriately at the central train station. We then had to split to board 2 Dutch boats named Twee and Dree, the fleet of Leeds Docks’s very own Water Taxi. A new placemaking initiative that not only makes the area much more accessible but makes for a great visitor experience -complete with a GPS boat tracking online service. A 12-min boat ride along the historic canal on a sunny summer day was a treat, and upon arrival to Leeds docks we were greeted by the very man in charge of the Dock’s placemaking strategy, Alex Webb. Alex shared the vision for the area that includes opening up access to water and connecting people through exciting public realm and F&B, activation and social water sport like SUP and dragonboating. Some events successfully run by the Form Property team and their partners in Leeds include festivals, running clubs, outdoor and pop-up art, etc. 

We were then given a tour of the newest addition to the Docks – a new creative workspace Department Leeds Dock, by its General Manager Amy Matthams. A swanky co-working, owned by Allied London, opened earlier this year following an extensive renovation of a former waterfront casino that has long stood empty. Department offers a balanced mix of various workspace formats to local creative and digital communities and runs a start-up academy program for members. The most striking feature of the building is a beautiful open-plan ground floor atrium space that blends work and social functions and is open and free to use for all. Not surprisingly, demand for ground floor pop-up retail units is often generated by events in the nearby Royal Armouries conference centre.

Leeds Climate Innovation District and a new urban village

Perhaps one the most significant transformations is happening in Leeds Climate Innovation District, an energy-efficient brownfield development by Citu. Development Manager Phoebe Nicol treated us to a talk and a tour of this new residential and mixed-use multi-generational project that is currently well underway. 

The project includes a total of circa 950 homes, of which 56 are already completed and occupied, a school, a care home, and a nursery, not to mention a bridge, mixed-use commercial area, and public realm, will bring families back to the area. With this scheme designed with sustainability at its core, Leeds Climate Innovation District is responding to two major driving forces of housing crisis and climate crisis, at once.

As a developer, Citu is working towards self-sufficiency and long-term stewardship of all its projects. They only ever acquire brownfield sites and get planning, the design team is in-house and so are the technical team, sales, and marketing. Notably, both Chris (Founding Director) and Jonathan (Managing Director) have a house on site.  

Citu uses a pioneering new approach to housing development to sustainability and passivhaus standard: all houses are timber frames from the on-site factory, and high-rise buildings in steel frames are from the Sigma factory nearby, which further reduces carbon footprint. The on-site factory will remain on site when the project is complete, and it will manufacture materials for other Citu sites. The factory produces two houses a week, and employs plumbers, engineers, and electricians, allowing to avoid fragmented contracting at construction at maintenance stages. There is a utility company on site, too.    

The developer sees the factory is a nod to the industrial legacy of the area and also thinks that retaining a mix of uses is important for the character of the site. 

Citu has a refreshing approach to the public realm: instead of either clustering or siloing the all-important elements of “play”, they are being integrated into public space throughout the site- basketball, football, trampolines, playgrounds. While listening to the talk, we spotted a few factory workers playing basketball, and later a few PCUK members got to try one of the trampolines out- what a treat!

Other initiatives pioneered at the Innovation District are the promotion of net zero transport by designing for active travel, introducing an electric car club, and keeping car allowance low at up to 0.4. A new bridge across the canal will support walking and cycling while also carrying district heat network pipes. 

We were impressed by the developer’s bold and innovative approaches to design and construction and will be looking forward to visiting the site in 5 years to see how the project will have lived up to expectations.

Aire Park, a new urban park in the Tetley Triangle

Next our group walked to the site of Aire Park, an 8 ha site that is being developed by Vastint on the South Bank next to the iconic Tetley Building (a former brewery now housing an arts center). Phil Porter, Principal Landscape Architect of PlanIT-IE, who leads of landscape design for the scheme, talked about how this development is set to change the face of this previously under-invested part of central Leeds.

This mixed-use commercial and residential scheme is envisioned as a new urban park with 50% of the site generously allocated for green spaces, soft and hard landscaping, play area, etc. The masterplan brings much-needed green areas in this markedly “hard” city”, and creates new vibrancy in the area with new homes, offices, and retail space. It also celebrates the heritage of the Tetley Brewery site with tree-lined lawns and gardens, opening it up through new visual and pedestrian permeability. 

Like the Innovation District project, Aire Park promotes net-zero connectivity in a marked departure from the car-dominated Leeds of the past decades. A new traffic-free bridge will link Sovereign Square to the park. The first phases of the park are currently under construction. 

After paying a visit to the iconic Corn Exchange building, now complete with a new pedestrian-friendly public realm in front of the building and a mix of independent retailers inside it, we headed to a pub for a traditional wrap-up pint. A recommendation from our local experts, the historic marketman’s pub Whitelock’s Ale House turned out to be a gem of a place tucked away behind the famous Victorian retail arcade and serving up really good beer!