Leeds Speculation/Rumours/Ideas

4249 Views 19 Replies 12 Participants Last post by Wharfman, Dec 18, 2017

Ttebroc

Discussion Starter · Dec 7, 2017

Since there was some interest in the Hume House thread for a place dedicated to rumours 'heard on the grapevine', I thought I'd start a thread myself. I'm also going to open it up to community-made proposals since I've gone a bit mad drawing up ideas for Sovereign Square - which I'll post here shortly.

I've left it in the general forum page, but Moderators might feel like it would be better placed in the Electric Press perhaps?

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Ttebroc

Discussion Starter · #2 · Dec 7, 2017

3

Lumiere II 2 Sovereign Square

Floors - Tower 1: 48. Tower 2: 28.

Height - Tower 1: 190m. Tower 2: 95m.

This is my made up entry for a new set of towers on the 2 Sovereign Square site. A pair of triangular towers, one of which becoming the tallest in Leeds upon completion, taking inspiration from other proposed towers such as Lumiere and Criterion Place which unfortunately didn't come forwards.

with each tower having a footprint of only 1800 sq. ft, they fit well within the very small plot. This results in a total office floorspace across the two towers of 140,000 sq. ft. The towers signify the top of the South Bank,
with clear views from the new Sovereign Footbridge, and forming a beacon to be seen from viewpoints across the city.

View from the South Bank:

View from above Trinity:

Context within the city:

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aviator

· #3 · Dec 7, 2017

Ttebroc, your proposal reminds me more of Criterion Place. That development would, like yours, have had the two towers built on a very tight footprint. The towers would have been flanked by lower buildings roughly where the new KPMG and Addleshaw buildings are.

Ttebroc

Discussion Starter · #4 · Dec 7, 2017

aviator said:
Ttebroc, your proposal reminds me more of Criterion Place. That development would, like yours, have had the two towers built on a very tight footprint. The towers would have been flanked by lower buildings roughly where the new KPMG and Addleshaw buildings are.

You know what, I’m an idiot. I completely forgot they were proposed here, I thought they were on a plot by the universities. Still I suppose this would be slightly different; from the few renders there are of Criterion it took up the whole site including the current park; these would be a lot narrower as a result.

this would presumably be a lot cheaper as well being a simple triangle shape rather than the cantilevered, leaning design of Criterion.

Any architects want to submit something like this as a planning application please be my guest. Let’s just please get something built here finally.

aviator

· #5 · Dec 7, 2017

Ttebroc said:
.......Still I suppose this would be slightly different; from the few renders there are of Criterion it took up the whole site including the current park; these would be a lot narrower as a result.

This would presumably be a lot cheaper as well being a simple triangle shape rather than the cantilevered, leaning design of Criterion.

Any architects want to submit something like this as a planning application please be my guest. Let’s just please get something built here finally.

You are right, of course, about your proposal being cheaper than the Simons/Simpson plans for the site. But that is more about the detail than the substance of your idea.

I went to see the Criterion Place exhibition at the Civic Hall (I wonder what happened to those lovely models, by the way). If my memory serves me correctly (and it may well be faulty), the two towers were set back towards the railway arches to create a plaza in front.

Not so different, then, from what you are proposing.

Skychaser 2005

· #6 · Dec 8, 2017

Want your vision to become reality...look amazing

Val Verde

· #7 · Dec 8, 2017

3

With all the recent development between the Merrion Centre and Inner Ring Road could a redevelopment eventually take place at the Santander offices on Merrion Street?

Wonder how much of a lease Santander have left on that building and if a future re-location elsewhere in Leeds city centre or possibly Bradford (where Santander have a presence) could be a possibility? A relocation for Santander would certainly open up a big plot for redevelopment with a much more interesting building although I presume it would need to be very sensitive considering its location opposite Merrion Gardens and St John's Church.

Also what about a future redevelopment of the HSBC building on Park Row for a much taller building although HSBC would of course need to re-locate elsewhere and could there be any other good sites which could be redeveloped in the future?

Also with Hammerson and Intu merging possibly also lead to Land Securities (the owners of Trinity Leeds and the White Rose Centre) and British Land (the part owners of Meadowhall) also merging?

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mike okane

· #8 · Dec 8, 2017 (Edited)

yeah i've grown to like that HSBC building despite it being only 6 floors, it looks very classy from Bond Court but that Santander building is so bland it should go.quickly..btw there were quite a few renders for criterion place + loads of cityscape viewpoints, I know as iv'e got rather a lot of them.

I remember seeing the very first Criterion Place proposal by Norman Foster in the YEP late 1980s (?) ah think. It was a bit like the Lloyds Building in London (but not as good) and had a metallic tower approx.15 storeys with a central 5 storey metallic column taking it to around 20 storeys in height and might have had a thin metallic spire i think. I keep meaning to find it and take a sneaky pic after trawling through the YEP archive at the Central Library as i've never seen any web pics of it..

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farcefacade

· #9 · Dec 8, 2017

this seems like the next prime candidate for a reclad to me.

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farcefacade

· #10 · Dec 8, 2017

Also I can think of lots of places in Leeds, particularly the junction above that would be served well with something like the Hovenring Bridge, in Rzeszów, Poland.

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Regener8tor

· #11 · Dec 8, 2017

We've touched on this subject a thousand times before but here is another wishlist.

1. Light rail system
2. Major conference/exhibition centre
3. Major contemporary art gallery
4. Aquarium (Leeds Dock)
5. Theme park (operated by Merlin Entertainments)

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Skychaser 2005

· #12 · Dec 9, 2017

farcefacade said:
Also I can think of lots of places in Leeds, particularly the junction above that would be served well with something like the Hovenring Bridge, in Rzeszów, Poland.

There was something like this in City Square and they knocked it down

Aaronj09

· #13 · Dec 9, 2017

2

Probably because it was shit.

I'd like to see something happen to this building:

And this building further up has a very strong noddy/toy town vibe:

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mike okane

· #14 · Dec 9, 2017 (Edited)

I may have mentioned it before but a new higher level semi-circular sunburst shaped Wellington Bridge across the River and Canal starting from the Wortley Roundhouses to the West st. car park would look spectacular and become a new iconic feature of the Leeds skyline. F*** the expense..

Loiner's Girders

· #15 · Dec 14, 2017

Skychaser 2005 said:
There was something like this in City Square and they knocked it down

Believe me, it was never quite that nice!

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farcefacade

· #16 · Dec 15, 2017

Loiner's Girders said:
Believe me, it was never quite that nice!

Where was it / are there any pictures?

Loiner's Girders

· #17 · Dec 15, 2017

farcefacade said:
Where was it / are there any pictures?

It began on the east side of Park Row at no1 which I think was NatWest international division. It crossed to 1 City Square (at the time Norwich Union, urgghh) and up Infirmary Street to Bond Court. I believe it had been planned to cross King Street to the Bank of England, which had its reception built at that level.

There are loads of photos. Search Norwich Union building for starters. I can't do a search right now.

Sent from my HTC One A9 using SkyscraperCity Forums mobile app

this_city

· #18 · Dec 18, 2017

farcefacade said:
Where was it / are there any pictures?

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JamesWCSB

· #19 · Dec 18, 2017

^^ These are all over Newcastle. I often used the one crossing the A167 from Pilgrim Street to Manors Metro. Pretty bizarre experience and was so unnecessarily complicated!

Some of them were incomplete (I remember listening to a Radio 4 doc about them) and would just stop in the middle of the air.

The concept was really cool, but as with many utopian 60's projects, the practically just isn't there.

https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2017/feb/07/brave-new-world-newcastle-dream-for-vertical-city

Wharfman

· #20 · Dec 18, 2017

JamesWCSB said:
^^ These are all over Newcastle. I often used the one crossing the A167 from Pilgrim Street to Manors Metro. Pretty bizarre experience and was so unnecessarily complicated!

Some of them were incomplete (I remember listening to a Radio 4 doc about them) and would just stop in the middle of the air.

The concept was really cool, but as with many utopian 60's projects, the practically just isn't there.

https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2017/feb/07/brave-new-world-newcastle-dream-for-vertical-city

It was never going to work. There are any number of reasons why:

1. Climbing and decending steps to use it
2. Unsafe. People don't like to be channelled down avenues when potential undesirables are coming the other way. There's no escape route.
3. No retail shop windows, cafes, or bars to provide interest. The commercial outlets won't relocate to first floor level because of lack of footfall and consequently there is no visual interest for the pedestrians.

All of this stuff stems from a time when the pedestrian was being subjugated to the car (the Merrion Centre underpass being our worst example). Luckily we didn't do much of it in Leeds. Birmingham modelled the whole city centre on it. Their inner ring road was at grade and every pedestrian crossing point was a subway. It has cost them many tens of millions to remodel it all and drop the inner ring into underpasses.

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