Granary Wharf | T/O | 69m, 47m & 44m | 23fl, 15fl & 14fl

[New_To _This_City]

This developement is looking quality, the pics that you took are really good. The brick cladding on this will look striking i think as you enter Leeds. Hopefully the round tower will be topped out for the early New Year.

[Electric_City]

How many floors are there to go with this now? Anybody have any fresh pics?

[Gherkin]

I counted when I was at the station on Saturday but have forgotten, sorry I was thoroughly unimpressed with the height of the tower compared to Broadcasting Place (they share heights) so I do hope there are many more floors to go still on this one.

[Leeds No.1]

Well we must remember that the station is already two storeys up. There's 15 storeys on City Inn, and the tower is perhaps two storeys higher at the moment (I'll count tomorrow if I remember) so that would mean 6 more storeys. I doubt it will ever look as tall as Broadcasting Place due to it's location.

[aviator]

Originally Posted by Gherkin007

.....I was thoroughly unimpressed with the height of the tower compared to Broadcasting Place (they share heights) so I do hope there are many more floors to go still on this one.

Bear in mind, of course, that Broadcasting Place is on higher ground which gives it an immediate advantage in that respect. In any case, you wouldn't want anything too overbearing on such a restricted site as Granary Wharf.

Even so, the tower is still making its presence felt.

[statix101]

So what is keeping this project going, when all others around the country are dropping like nine-pins..?

[Leeds No.1]

Perhaps the fact that it is a high quality scheme with good sales, with a hotel already signed up and top end restaurant signed up?

[Val Verde]

Originally Posted by Leeds No.1

Perhaps the fact that it is a high quality scheme with good sales, with a hotel already signed up and top end restaurant signed up?

Also could it be to do with the Granary Wharf scheme just starting right before the recession and credit crunch reared it's head with the scheme becoming too far advanced to scale down or cancel? Still it is shaping up nicely and gives a big city view of these tall buildings to the south side of city station as opposed to the early 1990s low rise offices which lie at the opposite side of the canal.

Has there been any news on any tenants at Granary Wharf other than Fifteen and has there been much in the way of work underway at the former Granary Wharf "Festival Hall" shopping centre which I believe is to convert much of that and other long disused spaces in the Dark Arches into an underground car park? Wasn't someone also meant to be finally taking on the never taken on pub / restaurant unit at the adjacent Blue development as well?

[Electric_City]

If the Southern entrance to the station came down this way, it would give a great boost to the Dark Arches, which I think is a unique and under-used part of the city.

[LoveTheCity]

I agree, I would hate to see the dark arches being turned into a car park. It's a unique area to the city and has the potential to become a nice retail area, even more so now with granary wharf being built. It would make a brilliant place for the 'independant cluster' that we are all craving!

[Electric_City]

Exactly - that's what I was thinking. All those retailers that got kicked out of the Corn Exchange could set up here. If the new station entrance came out here too, it would increase the footfall massively.

[di Livio]

Originally Posted by LoveTheCity

I agree, I would hate to see the dark arches being turned into a car park. It's a unique area to the city and has the potential to become a nice retail area, even more so now with granary wharf being built. It would make a brilliant place for the 'independant cluster' that we are all craving!

It's a difficult trick to pull off, as the failure of the last shopping centre demonstrates, but it suggests another failure of imagination on the part of Leeds. Would Manchester really have turned such a unique space into a car park?

[aviator]

Originally Posted by di Livio

It's a difficult trick to pull off, as the failure of the last shopping centre demonstrates, but it suggests another failure of imagination on the part of Leeds...

It demonstrates nothing of the kind.

Leeds City Council have been proposing the opening up of the entire network of arches for some years now. Somewhere (I believe) on the Holbeck Urban Village website, there's a render of an access point to the arches to the north of the station, at the point where the River Aire disappears under the station.

Unfortunately, of course, LCC don't own the arches and the land they stand on. That's down to Network Rail and its subsidiary, Spacia, and they're being rather unimaginative at the moment. And, given that the decision-making happens in London, Leeds and its potential for development isn't at the forefront of their minds.

The council's policy now seems to be one incremental opening up of the archways, beginning with the cleaning up of the Dark Arches once the Granary Wharf development is completed.

[Val Verde]

Originally Posted by di Livio

It's a difficult trick to pull off, as the failure of the last shopping centre demonstrates, but it suggests another failure of imagination on the part of Leeds. Would Manchester really have turned such a unique space into a car park?

Wasn't the former Granary Wharf shopping centre initally relatively successful in the 1990s but seemed to decline to non existance when a refurbishment at the end of the 1990s had taken place and the effect of raised rents which resulted in that centre's tenants leaving Granary Wharf for good around the early part of this decade? I agree the Dark Arches are certainly a unique asset for Leeds which should surely be exploited better than just an underground car park and it could certainly be a chance for something very special.

As a thought for a southern entrance to Leeds station accessing the Dark Arches and the Granary Wharf development could a possibility be perhaps (if this is possible) to reopen the City Station platform subway (which was closed when Leeds station was redeveloped around 2000) and create a direct link to Granary Wharf as well as other possible regeneration opportunities for the Dark Arches (as the pic belows taken by Phil Dvsn shows the concrete 1960s subway built into the Victorian Dark Arches which I guess could possibly be bought back into use to enable access to the area south of Leeds station).

[Electric_City]

Does anyone know where there's a plan of the layout of the Dark Arches showing which platforms they come underneath?

[LeedsLad]

Genius Val Verde! Sure that would cost a fraction of what they are proposing too! You should get that emailed off to the powers that be. They'd just need some stairs/escalators putting in and some lifts. Then they could locate a ticket office, barriers and some shops down in the arches...

[Leeds No.1]

It'd be like the arches at St. Pancras and through to Kings Cross St. Pancras tube.

[Even Flow]

[Bradley Hardacre]

Looking good. The round tower looks ever better as it rises above the other elements. How many storeys to go, 5? 6?

The hotel will I think look solid and imposing. The stepped apartment block is my least favourite of the three elements so far, probably because of that large concrete lump at the top which will hopefully be toned down by some sort of cladding.

[Leeds No.1]

I came across this on the website, don't think we've heard of it yet?

granarywharf.co.uk

Alden Lista and Granary Wharf is a fusion made in heaven. The Teppan-Yaki Chef has already enjoyed 9 years at the Dark Arches but is now looking forward to Wasabi's move to an exciting new home below apartments 1-160. The open contemporary space will ensure his adventurous cooking style will continue to inspire and add to a growing mix of new independent bars and restaurants.

Wasabi's food is freshly made on the day and is never, never kept over to the next day. We think Wasabi is the perfect kind of restaurant at Granary Wharf because it's all healthy eating and as good for your body as it is for the soul. Wasabi is open now so, if ever you needed an excuse to get down to The Hub at Granary Wharf, this brilliant restaurant is definitely it!