PLANNING | Leeds tipped to greenlight 2,800 homes

Caddick’s City One development could offer 2,000 BTR apartments along with 750,000 sq ft of offices, while plans for The Core and Holdforth Court are also expected to secure the go-ahead.

Leeds City Council’s city plans panel on 14 March will consider the three applications. In all, the proposals add up to 2,850 homes.

City One

City One is planned for a major gateway plot. Credit: planning documents

Developer: Caddick

Architect: SimpsonHaugh (with re-form landscape architecture)

Planner: ID Planning

One of Yorkshire’s biggest property companies is seeking to deliver a flagship project at the city centre’s southern gateway. Billed as City One, the site is bounded by Sweet Street, Jack Lane, Meadow Road and Bowling Green Terrace.

Proposals were floated for review in 2022, with the main advances in design since being a reduction in overall size, a large green space, and the siting of taller buildings along the northern part of the site. There will be a linear park.

Caddick wants to build 1,925 BTR apartments (down from an initial 2,200) on the 9.4-acre site in a scheme that could also include up to 750,000 sq ft of office space, 450 hotel bedrooms, a multistorey travel hub including 722 car parking spaces, and 30,000 sq ft of retail & leisure.

BTR arm Moda Living would take responsibility for the residential element.

Large consents have been granted at the site before in the early 200s, including a 22-storey hotel and casino project and a residential proposal of up to 40 storeys, but none were implemented.

Application number: 22/04827/OT

The Core

Three new buildings are planned. Credit: planning documents

Developer: Tri7 and Fusion Students

Architect: Corstorphine & Wright

Planner: DPP

Tri7 and its joint venture associate Fusion Students intend to redevelop The Core shopping centre off the Headrow in a scheme now billed as Garnet Exchange.

The shopping centre will be demolished as part of the redevelopment, to be replaced by three buildings of between five and nine storeys, containing 807 student bedspaces and around 36,000 sq ft of retail and commercial space at ground level, including two new arcades.

Accommodation would comprise 232 cluster flats and 511 studios.

As the panel will hear, the centre, although not by any means old, is underused, having been surpassed by grander retail developments in the city in Trinity and Victoria Gate.

Previous attempts to rejuvenate the centre include a £17m refurbishment in 2007 and subsequent interventions to improve access, maximise lettable space and diversify the focus of the centre away from pure retail as evidenced by the introduction of The Gym Group and the Hot Room yoga studio: despite all this, only around a third of the space is currently let.

Rhomco is the project manager.

Application number: 23/05271/FU

Holdforth Court, Brussels Street

Co-living is relatively new to the market. Credit: planning documents

Developer; KMRE Group

Architect: NW Architects

Planner: ID Planning

Held over from February’s meeting, the co-living tower would be on a site on the eastern edge of the city centre, where the A61 and railway viaduct cross. It is accessed from Brussels Street close to Crown Point Road, in an emerging residential area that includes Saxton Gardens.

The development would offer 118 one-person apartments, with 3,680 sq ft of communal recreation space at ground floor and smaller communal areas at each residential level.

KMRE’s proposals replace those put forward for the site in 2022, which at 11 storeys and 189 apartments were considered unacceptable.

Officers recommend approval via deferral and delegation to the chief planning officer, with an offsite affordable homes payment of around £740,000 the main condition attached.

Application number: 22/04852/FU