Official Leeds Thread 7 (seven)

[Typhoo25]

Flew out of LBA on Thursday and saw a new LCC ppublication called 'Leeds: An Internationally Competitive City'. Quite interesting reading, and a great ad for the city. Images in the mag include a dramatic BWp against a black sky, Spiracle Tower, Lumiere and Livingstone House. It gives the usual stuff about BWP etc. The following snippets are included.

HBG Propoerties to develop 400k sq ft office space at leeds pool with 24 storey resi tower
City Point?? Due to complete in June 2006.
27 Storey Mayfair to be completed in 2008 (still)
McAleer & Rushe on site at City Square House to commence build
Quality refurbs to take place at 33 Park Place

Also covered are Eastgate, City one, and a whole load of stuff on out of town. There are loads of these mags at LBA (not sure where else you would get them). As much as some of the stuff is a tad dated, I think it is a great ad for Leeds and saw a lot of people taking them with them.

On the last couple of pages there is a detailed office location finder.

[Leeds No.1]

RANDOM:

If I was in control I would get rid of art galleries and display the art in the streets, and make them part of the city. It would increase culture loads. It would be great to walk round and see art dressing the streets. The city is art; 2d art should be part of it too, not just stuck in galleries for the few interested, who can be bothered to trek round the enormous galleries, to see.

[CharlieP]

Originally Posted by Leeds No.1

RANDOM:

If I was in control I would get rid of art galleries and display the art in the streets, and make them part of the city. It would increase culture loads. It would be great to walk round and see art dressing the streets.

...and it would be absolutely heartbreaking to see pieces vandalised or destroyed. Where do you get your ideas from?

[di Livio]

Mo' sculpture of a high quality would be welcome. Richrad Hudson's exhibition is on at Whitehall Riverside.

[Leeds No.1]

Have you seen any public art vandalised or destroyed. The woman outside the Henry Moore Institute, or the Horse on Park Row, Birds/Statues in City Square; put it high up, and it doesnt get vandalised. Put it behind glass, and it doesnt get vandalised. Its not like this is a new idea..

[Molly]

Originally Posted by Leeds No.1

RANDOM:

If I was in control I would get rid of art galleries and display the art in the streets, and make them part of the city. It would increase culture loads. It would be great to walk round and see art dressing the streets. The city is art; 2d art should be part of it too, not just stuck in galleries for the few interested, who can be bothered to trek round the enormous galleries, to see.

people who can't be bothered to take a visit to the city art gallery are hardly going to get excited about seeing art out and about.

Leeds city art gallery is actually very very good and is free and with perfectly adequate disabled access so there is nothing to prevent the public visiting to enjoy the collection. .... but it is a great shame we will be loosing the cafe. In fact a HUGE shame! In fact really quite devastating!

...but I'm sure a few more works of art, to differing tastes, exhibhited around the city would be appreciated by art lovers.

[di Livio]

Originally Posted by Molly

but it is a great shame we will be loosing the cafe. In fact a HUGE shame! In fact really quite devastating!

There's going to be a new cafe in the old News room of the library.

[Leeds No.1]

I dont see why you couldnt have street art; they have it in Millennium Square ie Earth from the Air and the upcoming show.

[Molly]

Originally Posted by di Livio

There's going to be a new cafe in the old News room of the library.

I heard it was a small cafe mostly for serving drinks rather than serving meals... do you know any more? But it s a sham to have an art gallery without cafe..the impressionists would turn in there graves! Will there be one in the Museum? A Museum with no food and drink would be a great shame.

[aviator]

Originally Posted by Leeds No.1

I dont see why you couldnt have street art; they have it in Millennium Square ie Earth from the Air and the upcoming show.

That's rather different from what you were saying in your earlier post. Earth from the Air and Spirit of the Wild (which, incidentally, opens today) are designed for open air exhibition. So are many of the more durable pieces in bronze, stone, and the like. But your notion of closing the art galleries and putting their contents onto the streets is totally half-baked for reasons which should be too obvious for me to have to explain. How long, for example, do you expect an oil painting to survive the atmospheric pollution, pigeon shit, and weather, even if the vandals leave them alone?

The idea about increasing the amount of public art is something we should pursue, though. Most of the public buildings dating from before the 60s incorporated some, and so too did many private buildings. Recently, there was an initiative called One Percent for Art; I don't know how successful it was but the idea was to get developers to commit one percent of a building's budget to the commissioning of artwork, some of which was to be publicly visible.

When I was in Colombia earlier this year, I went to Medellin where the city authorities inposed this requirement as a condition of planning permission some years ago. Every new development over a certain size has to incorporate a piece of public art on or near to the building. The results are, predictably, mixed but people go to see the latest artwork when it's unveiled and it makes the point that art shouldn't be an afterthought.

[CharlieP]

Originally Posted by Leeds No.1

Have you seen any public art vandalised or destroyed. The woman outside the Henry Moore Institute, or the Horse on Park Row, Birds/Statues in City Square; put it high up, and it doesnt get vandalised. Put it behind glass, and it doesnt get vandalised. Its not like this is a new idea..

Public (i.e. outdoor) art is created with an inherent robustness - it doesn't matter that a bronze sculpture gets weathered or a concrete installation gets shat on by pigeons. What you said was "get rid of art galleries and display the art (presumably all of it) in the streets" - galleries are specifically designed to maintain an optimum temperature and humidity and protection from the elements, whereas outdoors is, er, not.

[Leeds No.1]

Obviously don't put oil paintings on the street. But theres lots of things in the Henry Moore Institute, and particularly the famous modern art sections of the art gallery that could be displayed around the city. Realise that when I say that, it doesnt necessarily mean outside; big indoor public spaces; or art copied onto suitable materials to be put outside; theres one on a wall near the CornX; tbh the painting isn't amazing, but its an example.

[di Livio]

Had a closer look at Fairfax House yesterday. Initially, it seemed to be receiving yet another grey plastic re-clad but on closer inspection certain sections appear to have been painted white. The mind boggles.

Walking back through the Merrion Centre I actually found myself quite liking the old place. Enough time may have passed for its steel, mirrors, and mosaic tiling to have acquired a retro charm. Replace the crappy flooring, bring back the crystal chandeliers and it could be a '60s version of the Victoria Quarter.

[di Livio]

There's a decent aerial photograph of Benjamin Gott's Bean Ing Mill complex and the original Whitehall riverside in Tristram Hunt's book Building Jerusalem: the rise and fall of the victorian city...

(p.355)"Across the Victorian cities, a similar story of design-led renewal is apparent. Leeds has rebuilt its city square from little more than a roundabout and created a vibrant public space in Millennium Square to the north of the city. It must now do the same with the constant traffic jam on Westgate outside the town hall."

[di Livio]

[QUOTE=Molly]I heard it was a small cafe mostly for serving drinks rather than serving meals.QUOTE]

I don't know any of the details, but it's quite a big space so it could easily accomodate meals if it wanted to.

I thought the News Room was once part of the art gallery and on that basis i assumed it had an entrance from both the library and the gallery. I'm not so sure now. It's still a bit frustrating to see the art gallery looking increasingly neglected and pointless, while other citires are investing megabucks in state-of-the art cltural facilites.

[MikeinLeeds]

Anyone seen the big sign which has gone up on the "Business Homes" site opposite Halfords (i.e. opposite where City One would eventually be)? It says "Coming soon...125 apartments, upto 30,000 sq ft offices and 120 bed hotel (sold)". I might have got those numbers slightly out as I was driving at the time. But its amazing to see yet another hotel operator signed up to the city - especially when there are occasional reports that Leeds is over supplied with hotel rooms. And perhaps even more amazing that a residential developer has the confidence to go ahead on a large (very) peripheral site, which is on an island between the motorway and the dual carriageway into town!
Great to see that confidence still appears to be so strong...!

[Leeds No.1]

www.greenbankleeds.com (or .co.uk??) has been revamped with a micro site for Pioneer Reach.

Some may see that traffic island as a traffic island; investors see it as a gateway site with lots of potential hence= £££. So they are right to have alot of confidence in that site! Its a sensible place for a hotel.

[LeedsLad]

I'm a little worried that they're still flogging flats in the very first block of this development after all the media coverage/adverts it's had... How long to sell the other 6 or so blocks?...

Also in the Leeds Economy Bulletin a piece on the 'Leeds City Region (Greater Leeds)' - there has been an agreement signed by all the relevant authorities... http://www.leeds.gov.uk/files/2006/w...e0804a0f8a.pdf

[di Livio]

Leeds: One landscape, Many views.

Goodbye Leeds – I won't be back

Regarding Debbie Leigh's article on Leeds building 'the slums of tomorrow' (YEP, September 18), I have news for Coun Carter, Kevin Grady and any other parties who refuse to believe it's happening – it already is.
Take a walk down North Street, a little way past the Grand Theatre, and you will see to your left an apartment complex called Caspar Apartments. When built around seven years ago, the apartments were deemed award-winning in design and build terms. The fact that the design echoed that of the old Quarry Hill Flats seemed to have been conveniently forgotten – and we all know what happened to Quarry Hill.
About one year ago, everyone was given notice to quit Caspar Apartments.
They remain neglected and an eyesore. Look across North Street from them and you will see a large complex on the ring Road swathed in scaffolding. This complex was hailed as the first luxury serviced apartment complex for Leeds. It has stood as it is now for over six years, unfinished and virtually outdated in design.
In terms of Leeds being the Knightsbridge of the North, this is hype taken to the point of being laughable. It is nothing of the sort. Business takes me to London frequently and I have yet to come across, in Knightsbridge, the grotesque sight of drunks staggering around and shouting and urinating against walls, into gutters, or into open plastic containers which offend decent passers-by through their lack of privacy. Curiously, these containers are actually provided by the council.
I have also yet to find Knightsbridge allowing so called 'street musicians', who have side-stepped the begging laws by employing musical instruments as props.
To use a metaphor, Leeds floats to a considerable degree on binge drinking, binge shopping, hype and unsustainable property speculation.
Having lived in Leeds City Centre for six years, I have witnessed deterioration as a result of silly propaganda, poor city management and half-hearted policing. Cosmetic building work and street refurbishments and yet more shops do not provide the answers to what is needed.
Snapshot view
Once my affairs are concluded, I shall leave early in the New Year and have no intention whatever of returning. I know others of a similar mindset.
Coun Carter is quoted as saying 'I get a bit tired of people that come from outside the city, take a snapshot view, don't bother to do their research properly."
As Deputy Leader of the Council he would do better to constructively and professionally refute and rebuff what is perceived as inaccurate opinion if he believes it to be so.
Openly allowing his blinkered petulance to be published does him and his office no credit and is certainly not what I look for in a professional manager and Deputy Leader of what still has the potential to be a fine city.
How much of that potential has already been squandered only time will tell.
Ian Johnson, Albion Place, Leeds

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article...8-2378298.html

[Rob]

What a prat. (refering to Ian Johnson).

The Casper apartments were emptied due to structural problems which require major repairs, as was well publicised, and we know the developer creating the serviced apartments went bust, and have only recently considered resurecting the project.

As for the grimey descriptions of Leeds at night, fair comment maybe, but much of London is no better, go to many of the famous drinking areas at night (Soho, Leicester Sq etc) and you'll see much the same thing .. and worse.

The grass may seem greener for Ian Johnson, but that's all it is, an illusion. Take like for like places anywhere in the country and you'll see the same things happening, it's a slur on much of UK society as a whole and perhaps further afield in Western Europe (where the outdoor urinals come from), nothing unique to Leeds.