Official Leeds Thread 7 (seven)

[rhinomatt]

[di Livio]

Originally Posted by rhinomatt

Really stretching the council budget there with that solitary tree.
It should be a much nicer area in future with the single level paving and the Lands Lane gateway directing pedestrians into Trinity.
Modern signage is a good idea and long overdue.

[Leeds No.1]

I'm not familiar with the new signs in the green spaces? I don't think I've seen them. I don't think the council are wanting just signs here, but a more comprehensive wayfinding system, incorporating maps and information boards:

http://www.legiblelondon.info/downlo...okSCREEN04.pdf

I wouldn't rely too much on the image to gather information about it. I imagine Lands Lane, Kirkgate and Bond Street will have trees lining one side of them in the same way that Albion Street and Albion Place do.

[leeds_rules]

i know this is off the subject but has anybody been on this website?

http://archive.skyworks.co.uk/find.html?p=1

it gives some good arial views of the city

[Electric_City]

Thanks for the link, LR. Some interesting stuff on there, although it is a little mixed up in places. I a few of the clips, Temple Newsam Hall is described as 'Leeds Town Hall'

[Electric_City]

New 3D computer model offers users a glimpse of the city's future

Published Date: 11 March 2009

AN innovative 3D computer model of Leeds city centre is being showcased for the first time this week at the MIPIM festival on the French Riviera.

Arup, the global design and engineering consultant, has developed the model to be used as a tool that can be used by architects, developers and planners.

It is viewed using computer gaming technology and enables users to virtually fly, walk and circle the streets and buildings of the city centre.

It will be available to view and use by visitors in the main exhibition hall throughout the week.

Simon Mabey, leader of the city modelling team at Arup, said: "Modelling of this type provides 3D images of buildings and infrastructure, allowing a highly accurate digital representation and foundation for the whole of the inner city to be created.

"It's also a dynamic tool, changing as the city changes, and enables us to work with developers and designers to look into the future and determine how their proposals interact with the existing building fabric and urban environment."

Richard Bickers, associate at Arup, said: "3D models can be used as a planning tool to enable masterplan layout options and development proposals to be assessed.

"They also record changes to the city as they occur over time and can be used to demonstrate development proposals at consultation events, exhibitions and meetings with the public and other stakeholders."

The new model unites information from the city council, architects and developers, using a combination of modelling techniques based on building photographs, aerial photography and laser-based data sources to build 3D computer-generated environments. The modelling opens up a new vision of areas.

Yorkshire Post Business Page

Would be cool if you could access this online at some stage in the future.

[Leeds No.1]

Originally Posted by Electric_City

Thanks for the link, LR. Some interesting stuff on there, although it is a little mixed up in places. I a few of the clips, Temple Newsam Hall is described as 'Leeds Town Hall'

They seem to be clips of longer pieces.

[di Livio]

Noticed the side extension to the old Golden Lion Hotel, now the Cosmopolitan, today. It's much better than the renders suggested.

[di Livio]

I'm glad i decided not to buy the Marc Riboud book at the City Museum yesterday for a whopping £17.99 because the images are available online.

http://www.leeds.gov.uk/lastingmomen...50&position=40

[Leeds No.1]

http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.u...orm.5073990.jp
New mosque set to transform Leeds inner city skyline

16 March 2009
Aisha Iqbal

A NEW mosque is set to transform the skyline in a corner of inner city Leeds.
Planning chiefs have approved a blueprint for the new Hassan Quba Masjid in Harehills.

It will replace the existing Islamic Educational Centre in Shepherds Lane, doubling the size of the prayer hall and general floorspace.

It will have two 45ft-high minarets and a large traditional dome.

It will be built with £700,000, raised through fundraising in the community.

The arrival of the mosque is a welcome relief for Muslim worshippers in the Harehills area, who have previously been forced to pray outside on the pavement during busy worship times because of lack of space inside.

Speaking after Leeds planning chiefs approved the initial application, Akhlaq Mir, chairman of the Al Hassan Trust, which will run the new mosque, said: "We are over the moon and looking forward to work starting.

"This is going to be one of the most beautiful buildings round here and committee members have worked hard to raise the money."

The Al Hassan Trust has been running basic prayer facilities and after-school religious tuition in the area for a decade.

The planning application for the new project has taken nearly two years to put together.

The arrival of the new mosque will also be a welcome change to the street scene, where the existing green and white building – although a vital resource – was considered an eyesore by many.

At a meeting of Leeds City Council's Plans Panel for the East of the city on Thursday, members voted unanimously to give the proposal the go-ahead.

In their detailed report, council officers said the "unique" new building would improve the look of the local area and was "a significant visual improvement" to the existing "unremarkable" looking facility.

The new mosque will incorporate traditional Islamic architecture with red brick to match the houses in the area.

The dome will be positioned to the centre, with the minarets flanking each side.

The mosque will hold daily prayers five times a day with 45 to 50 people expected at each session. About 300 people are expected to attend Friday prayers.

There will be no tannoy system operating on the site.

The new mosque will not have its own car park but councillors decided any parking issues would be minimal as the mosque would be at its busiest for just a brief period during Friday prayers, but quiet at other times.

Work on the project will start by the end of May and should be completed in a year.

[Rob]

Originally Posted by Leeds No.1

http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.u...orm.5073990.jp
New mosque set to transform Leeds inner city skyline ..
.. It will have two 45ft-high minarets and a large traditional dome

YEP at it's editorial best, 45ft minarets is 13.7m, the equivelant of a four floor house. Hardly breaking the skyline even in that part of town.

[Leeds No.1]

Originally Posted by Rob

YEP at it's editorial best, 45ft minarets is 13.7m, the equivelant of a four floor house. Hardly breaking the skyline even in that part of town.

Yes, I thought 'I wonder if I should change that to metres'. Decided not to because it was in the article like that. But it really annoys me when heights are reported in feet- especially if it's to make them sound taller. As you say, 45ft isn't even 14m.

[leeds_rules]

the smaller the better for a mosque. id rather they built a church mind

[Leeds No.1]

You shouldn't discriminate against specific religions.

[leeds the best]

Hes giving his opinion,hence the "i" if its still politically correct to do so.

[di Livio]

Scroll to 2mins 21secs - Dull, dreary, disappointing...

...and there's also Magellan House somewhere in the background.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvMDpBhbkic

[MattN]

Of course, an Islamic Centre is hardly going to replace itself with a church, especially not in a part of Harehills with a very small number of Christians (and a much higher number of Muslims).

As I understand it, it involves the demolition of these shop like buildings on the end of the Terrace which currently house the centre.

[di Livio]

Whatever you think about Kinnock, this is an awesome speech. (7mins 24 secs). Sorry.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-3OscH1qK0

If anyone's interested, Lee Billy Elliot Hall's The Pitmen Painters is touring to the Sheffield Lyceum/Crucible in September. I've just read the play and it's definitely worth going to see.

[Gherkin]

Major New Hotel Planned In Leeds


The city of Leeds is set this new four star hotel planned in a prime location located in Leeds' Civic Quarter, only metres from Millennium Square, the city's Civic Centre and the recently proposed Leeds Arena.

The project, the Portland Crescent Hotel which is named after the street it overlooks, comes from Oxford GB who have developed the building whilst the architects who designed the seventies styled block are Dexter Moren Associates. The previous owner of the third of an acre site was Leeds City Council themselves, the very people who decide the planning application.

Once built their proposals will be 14 floors which should see it rise to a height between 40 and 50 metres tall lacking soar but filling in what is a vacant site in the city centre. It will contain primarily 246 bedrooms as well as associated services for the hotel such as a restaurant and bar.

News of the £31 million project was publicly released in March at MIPIM 2009, but it won't have come as an exact surprise. The sharp-eyed following planning applications in Leeds will have spotted that the project has already been greenlit by the local planning committee with the MIPIM acting as a media launch for the project.

Despite the hysteria of the British economy being down in the dumps there are some glimpses of light at the end of the tunnel. The construction programme for the Portland Crescent Hotel is on a fast track with it being due to commence on site later in 2009, with completion scheduled for some time in 2011.

Published on 19-03-2009 by Skyscrapernews.com


Picture here: http://www.skyscrapernews.com/images...Leeds_pic1.jpg



(Is there a thread for it?)

[Rob]

It's been discussed on the 'Leeds' Hotels thread', but we will give it a dedicated thread when it starts on site.