City House | Re-Clad | 52m | 15fl

[jimbo]

not laughed that much for a while - excellent banter going on above. Reclad looks okay - always suspicious about white/grey panelling and how easily it can age and pick up grime.

[jimbo]

Originally Posted by gothicform

about time. i didnt mention this but i visited leeds a few weeks ago. well the train had a stop over there and i thought i'd have a quick look around. i stepped out of the station and was immediately greeted by a scene that looked like urban hell. this was a major british city centre???? ugly pieces of shit buildings everywhere, confusing road layouts, poor pedestrian permeability, etc. i was planning to walk to bridgewater place but had no idea how the hell to get there!

i realise now it's because neville street runs UNDER this building. i assumed the building was just a wall, pedestrians shouldn't have to explore a labyrinthine street layout. looking at it in google earth, they need to sort out new station street, bishopsgate street, and mill hill because frankly right now its nothing short of horrific. the sooner they fix this building the better because my immediate thought of leeds was "what a shit hole!" even though i know from this forum it isn't.

i did make it up to the town hall in the end which upset me almost as much, victoria square was sliced in half by a road, the purity that the area should have had was ruined. check out sheffield, liverpool to see how this should be done properly. leeds badly needs decent public space as soon as you step out of its railway station.

shame you missed pedestrianised Briggate, the Victoria Quarter and Millenium Square!!! Argh. What about City Square? That's not to be sniffed at with the old Post Office open again.

The entrance to the station is unfortunately a mess, primarily as its so constrained and funnels people down straight under the railway bridge....although for years the Dark Arches have been eulogised for their atmosphere...... ho hum.

Mill Hill isn't that bad, couple of decent boozers. Leeds Shopping Plaza is tragic though.

[LeedsLad]

Millennium Square is definately one you have to hunt down rather than wander into

[Leeds No.1]

You can see that he exited onto New Station Street and headed up Albion Street, because if you exit onto City Square it's fine and no 70s buildings are visible; infact impressive architecture representing business and vibrancy greets you. Leeds City brings you out into a better area than Liverpool Lime Street and many London stations.

Victoria Gardens shouldn't be fully pedestrianised. The Headrow is a strong boulevard axis, although the public realm part of it can be greatly improved. As previously discussed, there were plans for this but the money didn't come Leeds' way.

[gothicform]

shame you missed pedestrianised Briggate, the Victoria Quarter and Millenium Square!!! Argh. What about City Square?

i think my point is that yes i missed them but you cant just happen on them. the beauty about places like sheffield is you come straight out of the station and you have then a huge plaza and so on. liverpool's lime street has a similar thing of coming straight out with one road aside, onto what is an impressive public space. in the case of sheffield it was as bad as leeds ten years ago.

[Immunda Leodis]

This is long overdue and I think the renders look quite classy, I'm sure that unless they make a balls-up of Plaza phase 1 proportions it'll be a huge improvement!

On the subject of Neville Street (mentioned a few posts above) a little bit of me wants them to leave it as it is, I quite like the fact it's a bit sinister and inhospitable.....

[Leeds No.1]

How can you not 'happen' upon Briggate. Yes Millennium Square you have to find but you can hardly miss Briggate.

[SirCWilson]

Millenium Square - hard to find? Leave the station, walk up Park Row. Walk up Cookridge Street. Millenium Square. It's a straight bloody line. You can see the station from Millenium Square.

Perhaps all Leeds' attractions should be stacked up like a multi-storey car park right next to the station entrance, then people won't have to make a slight bloody effort and use their brain and find them. They won't even have to get off the train, they can just look as they go by.

[Rob]

As I see it, when you leave Leeds City Station, you have a one in three chance of ending up in the slightly grotty Boar Lane/Albion Street junction area. The other options are to exit the main station entrance under the Queens Hotel straight into the impressive City Square (as L No1 says has pleasent and grand surroundings and is the main pedestrian gateway to central Leeds), or better still to come out through the North concourse exit opposite Majestics and into Leeds City Square that way. Of course if one went badly wrong and followed New Station Street, that would lead the wrong way and give a poor impression.

Gothic must have unfortunately somehow managed the one in three bad option, even though following the crowds would normally lead one the correct way.

[Baranelo]

Originally Posted by Val Verde

However it appears that at ground floor level on New Station Street is still just a plain wall. Is there reason why there can't be a street level frontage here perhaps used by small retail units as that would certainly improve the appearance of this building at ground level? Is it used as a plant floor or substation which is the reasoning for a blank wall at ground floor? So I take it that work will start immediately considering people are already on site and how many cranes will we expect to see?

Ye, this is where the carpark for 80ish cars is.

[aviator]

Originally Posted by Baranelo

Ye, this is where the carpark for 80ish cars is.

No, the car parking is across the road under some of the railway arches behind where Criterion Place would have been built. The reason the developers can't do much at ground floor level is because of the sodding great steel girder which runs almost the whole length of the front of City House at ground floor level. Given that it's at least a metre and a half high, it's a bit surprising Val has missed it.

[Rob]

Apart from the workers at City House (and the odd lost visitor), not many people go that way so retail units or other active frontage may not be sustainable, the road in front of City House is mainly just an access road for buses and taxis coming to the station.

[cmj]

Originally Posted by Immunda Leodis

This is long overdue and I think the renders look quite classy, I'm sure that unless they make a balls-up of Plaza phase 1 proportions it'll be a huge improvement!

On the subject of Neville Street (mentioned a few posts above) a little bit of me wants them to leave it as it is, I quite like the fact it's a bit sinister and inhospitable.....

Is that the road the Cockpit is on, or the one next to that?

[dkeeno1]

How can you say there arent many people that use that way! I always use the so called grooty route to access the station as its quickest from where i live and its always packed with people walking along the pavement, maybe not as busy as the other entrances, but it certainly isnt quiet and i would have thought shops would have done well there if it hadnt been for the girder.

[di Livio]

Originally Posted by gothicform

i think my point is that yes i missed them but you cant just happen on them. the beauty about places like sheffield is you come straight out of the station and you have then a huge plaza and so on. liverpool's lime street has a similar thing of coming straight out with one road aside, onto what is an impressive public space. in the case of sheffield it was as bad as leeds ten years ago.

The square outside Liverpool's St. george's hall is blocked off from the station by a busy road. Turn left and you are into the sewer that is the St. John centre. It's an appalling first impression.
Leeds on the other hand has a multi-million pound public space sitting in front of the Queen's Hotel. It's a shame you managed to miss it.


image hosted on flickr

[homesweethome]

Originally Posted by SirCWilson

Millenium Square - hard to find? Leave the station, walk up Park Row. Walk up Cookridge Street. Millenium Square. It's a straight bloody line. You can see the station from Millenium Square.

Perhaps all Leeds' attractions should be stacked up like a multi-storey car park right next to the station entrance, then people won't have to make a slight bloody effort and use their brain and find them. They won't even have to get off the train, they can just look as they go by.

That could prove a bit expensive tho in reality.

Perhaps we could make some signs directing people to the attractions. I have a laminater so they could look really proffesional.

[Smoggie_Si]

Originally Posted by Rob

Apart from the workers at City House (and the odd lost visitor), not many people go that way so retail units or other active frontage may not be sustainable, the road in front of City House is mainly just an access road for buses and taxis coming to the station.

What an odd thing to say Rob! It's a major pedestrian approach to the station and will be even more so when the Trinity Quarter opens. I think an active retail frontage would have been great and really improved the streetscape around the station.

Originally Posted by gothicform

they need to sort out new station street, bishopsgate street, and mill hill because frankly right now its nothing short of horrific. the sooner they fix this building the better because my immediate thought of leeds was "what a shit hole!" even though i know from this forum it isn't.

I completely agree James, it's a very poor entrance to the city and gives visitors who are unfortunate enough to venture that way out of the station a very bad first impression, a complete opposite to coming out and straight into City Square which I would imagine gives a wonderful first impression.

[Suburban Knight]

Originally Posted by gothicform

i think my point is that yes i missed them but you cant just happen on them. the beauty about places like sheffield is you come straight out of the station and you have then a huge plaza and so on. liverpool's lime street has a similar thing of coming straight out with one road aside, onto what is an impressive public space. in the case of sheffield it was as bad as leeds ten years ago.

So you came out of the station and walked the way that scarcely anybody else takes to go into town! Almost everyone walks to the left from the station entrance, taking them to the impressive City Square (although the walk along New Station Street could be better).

[Val Verde]

Originally Posted by aviator

No, the car parking is across the road under some of the railway arches behind where Criterion Place would have been built. The reason the developers can't do much at ground floor level is because of the sodding great steel girder which runs almost the whole length of the front of City House at ground floor level. Given that it's at least a metre and a half high, it's a bit surprising Val has missed it.

Yes I did knew about that great big steel girder for New Station Street which runs above New Station Street. Is there any way that could be modified without the bridge collapsing onto Neville Street so it could be lowered or moved perhaps allowing for occupation of retail units at the ground floor of City House as there would certainly be room for 2 or 3 small units which would surely improve the retail provision at City station and help improve the provision of an active street level frontage which is always a good thing.

Also out of interest is there anything planned at that small building to the left of City House (shown on the following link) which lies above platform 7 of Leeds station and I believe was used as a Railway Worker's Club and appears to have been disused for many years? http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamesw-bell/2773617333/ It appears odd that the rest of the trainshed was modifed back in 2000 but this small building was just left disused? Could it be refurbished into a bar or restaurant unit perhaps (which of course would require a major change in look).

[SirCWilson]

Originally Posted by Val Verde

Yes I did knew about that great big steel girder for New Station Street which runs above New Station Street. Is there any way that could be modified without the bridge collapsing onto Neville Street so it could be lowered or moved perhaps allowing for occupation of retail units at the ground floor of City House

That girder holds up City House. City House is built on top of that girder. That girder supports a 15 storey office block. That girder is structurally vital to City House.

But, hey, yeah, what do architects and engineers know anyway? Let's move it tonight! Who's with me?

Edited to add 'the laws of physics'. I forgot that we'll have to defy the laws of physics. Let's do it!