Brunswick Place

[Leeds No.1]

"Summat afoot"

The majority of this is office isn't it? With the current demand for office in Leeds, it may be gearing up to move onto the next stage?

[Even Flow]

Apologies for my overbearing use of colloquialisms, henceforth I shall commune only in the Queen's finest. (I have worked as a journalist in the past so my lacking of basic written English skills is hardly surprising )

Moving swiftly on...........

I don't recall seeing any planning applications for the site so I'm really not sure what is 'appening 'ere. Reet confuzin I tell thee.

[Leeds No.1]

I see. Interesting.

I learnt what 'summat' meant last month. I knew what afoot meant though

[Baranelo]

lol, are you not from yorkshire.

[Leeds No.1]

None of my family are Yorkshire; only one is English anyway lol. I'm an ex-southerner; Eastbourne, later London. And then I moved to Harrogate, the poncy bit where no-one speaks Yorkshire anyway. I don't really know much Yorkshire! Ah well.

[tomd89]

The Wetherspoons and Casino are being refurbished at the moment, which must involve a reclad. I must admit thought its weird there is not planning app for it.

[LS8]

if theres no planning application that means theres not going to be a reclad / major external changes.
probs just a clean or making good any existing defective concrete cladding and windows..

ps they could have made an application a couple of years or so ago and are only just doing the works now. the whole building is scaffolded up so all neighbours will have had to come together - agree what works were to be done and pay for it, all takes time.

[Suburban Knight]

where I'm from we say 'summink' instead of 'summat'.

[Leeds No.1]

I've always found that 'something' tends to be quite suffice

[Benney]

Originally Posted by Leeds No.1

I've always found that 'something' tends to be quite suffice

Sufficient. (I lived in Bath and Oxford for quite a long time).

[Leeds No.1]

... good... Is that relevant :S

[di Livio]

As if this wasn't on the cards...

http://www.propertyweek.com/story.as...de=3116924&c=1

Castlemore abandons £275m Leeds scheme
27.06.08
By Jennifer Rigby
Propertyweek.com

After buy-to-let woes, credit crunch now hits city’s regeneration plans

Castlemore has pulled out of a £275m regeneration scheme in Leeds city centre, saying it is reviewing its ‘appetite’ for large scale schemes in the current market.

Graham Whateley’s Castlemore was selected as preferred developer for a 5.5 acre site in Leeds in 2006 by landowners Leeds City Council and Leeds Metropolitan University.

The residential and office-led scheme is one of the first city centre regeneration schemes to fall victim to the credit crunch, and is thought to be indicative of wider market sentiment.

Castlemore was due to develop the 1m sq ft Brunswick Place scheme, on the site to the north of the city centre, bounded by Merrion Way and Brunswick Terrace, through its regeneration arm, Spring.

Andy Wilkins, managing director of Spring, said: ‘It is true that we decided not to proceed. This was part of a review of our appetite for large-scale mixed-use city centre developments in the light of prevailing economic conditions.’

Castlemore would have paid £17m for the site. It planned a 30-storey residential tower, 601,000 sq ft of offices and 69,000 sq ft of retail on the site, next to Clay Pit Lane Bridge.

A city council spokesperson said: ‘The council was involved in the joint sale with Leeds Metropolitan University. The university owns the Brunswick building and the council owns the adjoining car park. A sale was agreed with Castlemore Securities, but it withdrew from the transaction earlier this year.

The council and the university are considering their future options.’

The scheme would have contained a cultural quarter called ‘the Eye’, developed in conjunction with the city council.

It would have been Castlemore’s first Leeds investment.

The site comprises a defunct university building and an income- producing car park, so it is not thought the landowners are under pressure to draw up a new strategy at this stage.

CB Richard Ellis acted for Castlemore; DTZ advised the council in the negotiations.

[Rob]

Not a big surprise really. This development never really got onto the starting blocks.

[Leeds No.1]

I don't expect this to mean that nothing will ever come on the site though. As a Met project, it is likely to go ahead at some time in the future, even if in a different form. Office and retail demand is still high in Leeds, and Leeds Met have high ambitions. Student accomodation could replace the proposed residential element if a scheme is proposed in the future on this site.

[SirCWilson]

I think Leeds Met's main plan for involvement with this site was to sell it.

[jimbo]

not a surprise, and not that big a deal really, although the elliptical shape of the towers were most pleasing on the eye. Its an important site and I'm sure something tall will emerge here in due course, but we've plenty of other big schemes on the go to be excited with.

[Val Verde]

Bad bad news. So I presume the disused Leeds Metropolitan University Brunswick building will just stand and rot then or will it become "temporary" surface car parking space (and who knows how long that could be for)? This end of town does desperately need something done to connect it much more with the city centre especially as it consists nothing much other than main roads, the lowrise Halifax and Yorkshire Bank offices and of course the recent high rise constructions of the Opal and Plaza towers.

Wasn't there a 20th Century Architectural Society campaign to get Brunswick listed and could this reprive unless something else occurs heighten a possible chance of listing although I am not a fan of it personally and I remember it was very poor inside as well I know it has some fans. However what could it possibly be used for other than a university building as it is very bespoke designed only as university lectures, seminars etc and I cannot see it ever being converted into offices, retail, residential etc?

[tomd89]

It it a fabulous building, which is looking a little neglected now. Are Leeds Met still in this building?

[Leeds No.1]

There are architectural merits to it but I think time takes its toll and there's a point where things just have to go. This is one of them, for the sake of the wider city and integrating other areas into the centre. There is no reason why another scheme couldn't take some of the architectural merits of the current building and interpret them into a new style.

[SirCWilson]

Originally Posted by Val Verde

Wasn't there a 20th Century Architectural Society campaign to get Brunswick listed [/IMG]

As usual Val, no. You've made this up.