£350m South Bank development unanimously approved
Plans to transform a 8.69-acre derelict site in the South Bank area of Leeds into a development including the tallest building in the city, offices, retail, hotel, parking, homes and new public spaces have been unanimously approved.
Leeds City Plans Panel yesterday voted to approve the planning application for CEG’s South Bank development, deferring and delegating sign off to the Chief Planning Officer once final details of the planning legal agreement are in place.
CEG’s hybrid planning application was submitted in September 2017 and seeks detailed planning permission for two office developments with ground floor retail and leisure totalling up to 26,100 sq m and outline planning permission for mixed-use development of up to 103,900 sq m of offices, retail, leisure, hotel, health, education and community uses, parking and up to 750 new homes, along with new public spaces and landscaping.
Buildings ranging from five to 40-storeys form part of the plans, which CEG said would put Leeds on the map as a key European destination.
The developer added that the major development would support the expansion of the city core, providing links which will reconnect those in Holbeck and Beeston to the city centre.
Jon Kenny, development director at CEG, said: “The site is the principal rail gateway into Leeds and the scheme has been designed to make a powerful positive impact on arrival to the city, showing how Leeds is preparing for HS2 and investing to ensure our city offers development of an international quality.”
The proposals aim to:
- Deliver a new location for the south west of the city centre with up to 750 new homes, workplaces, shops, cafés and restaurants
- Provide the wider community with attractive new places to walk, rest and enjoy
- Create thousands of new job opportunities and provide on-site training, education, upskilling and apprenticeships during construction to benefit local people
- Retain the two-storey printworks building façade as a feature within the design
- Improve connectivity – making it easier and more attractive to walk or cycle from Holbeck to the waterfront, railway station and the city centre
- Assess opportunities to enhance existing community facilities, including the potential for new education uses
- Create a safe, attractive environment for employees, residents and visitors to enjoy green spaces and public plazas that are appealing and well-lit
- Revitalise the approach to movement around the area through innovative travel planning backed up by a ground-breaking traffic microsimulation model of the city centre highway network using the internationally acclaimed Aimsun traffic modelling software.
David Hodgson, head of strategic development north for CEG, said: “This derelict site is an important core in the west of the city, an area which has suffered from neglect over a number of years. This is set to change. At the heart of the South Bank regeneration area, our proposals will deliver the same attention to detail and quality as we are delivering at our award-winning Kirkstall Forge development.
“This will be a exciting mixed-use strategic development of a critical mass and international standard, revitalising the area and reconnecting local communities to the city.”
CEG is working with architects Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios.
