Bridgewater Place checks continue following high winds death
LEEDS City Council has vowed to urgently investigate ways to make the area around a city centre building safe following the death of a man after a lorry fell onto him in high winds.
And council chief executive Tom Riordan said the developers and architects of 32-storey Leeds building Bridgewater Place were continuing to work with an international wind-engineering consultancy to identify ways to “resolve the ongoing issues” around the structure.
TheBusinessDesk.com reported in 2008 how concerns had been raised about strong winds battering office workers around the tall building.
Witnesses continue to report incidents of riders being blown off their bikes and people struggling to remain on their feet in bad weather with pedestrians forced to cling to road signs and lamp posts during particularly gusty periods.
Last Thursday, the lorry fell over during a day of high winds across the region, crushing the 35-year old pedestrian in Neville Street.
A 22-year-old woman was also seriously injured in the incident.
Read Briggsy’s property blog: Wind death investigation – too little too late?
Mr Riordan said: “As part of the original planning application, a wind assessment was carried out on behalf of the developer and this indicated that the impact the building would have on wind speed would be minimal. However, since the building was completed, there have been unforeseen wind-effect issues around it.
“The developers and architects have been working with us to resolve this since the extent of the problems became known to us.
“The council has acted to make the area safer for pedestrians during high winds, installing extensive lengths of railings along the footpaths in the area.
“The developers and architects are undertaking work with an international wind-engineering consultancy who have carried out wind-tunnel testing, computer simulations and technical analysis which is enabling us to identify the most effective solution available to resolve the ongoing issues. This highly complex work is still in progress.
“Thursday was a particularly difficult day with a number of significant incidents across the region caused by high winds. Following the tragedy, however, we are looking urgently at other ways of making the area safer.”
Bridgewater Place Ltd, the building’s owners, said all building and planning regulations were fully adhered to in the development of Bridgewater Place.
“As part of the requirements for obtaining planning permission, Leeds City Council specifically requested that a comprehensive wind-tunnel analysis was conducted to assess the effect of the building on the surrounding area,” it added.
Before Bridgewater Place was built, joint developers Landmark Development Projects and St James Securities employed BRE Group – a world leading consultancy on the environmental impact of buildings – to perform tests on the design for the 32-storey building where firms including Eversheds, Ernst & Young and BDO have their Yorkshire headquarters.
A model was made of the development and surrounding area which was placed in a wind tunnel to simulate the wind characteristics appropriate to the location of the development.
