The changing face of city centre living

Leeds has, for a long time, felt like it had a lack of city centre living, which has an impact on the vibrancy and ambience of the city.

That has shifted and the cranes on the Leeds skyline are evidence that there is more to come.

“We were late to the party with BTR [build-to-rent]”, said Craig Burrow, group property director at Town Centre Securities

He was speaking at TheBusinessDesk.com’s seminar, The Changing Face of City Centres, in partnership with law firm Bevan Brittan and work, wellness and social destination, Department, at Leeds Dock.

Burrow said: “When you look at the amount of schemes that have been delivered in Manchester – Manchester is a bigger city centre, but was it an easier ride in Manchester? I think there was more support to bring those schemes through the system.

“The pipeline that is just getting delivered now in Leeds, yes, it feels like there are a lot of cranes and there’s a lot of development going up. But in terms of the BTR product, I think we were late to the party.”

Lyndon Campbell, property partner at for Bevan Brittan and head of its Leeds office, said: “In terms of the residential developments we have got going up at the moment are enough to retain graduates in Leeds city centre, and there’s a lot of student development going on, which is good.

“It’s bringing people into the universities, into the city, but is there then the next step on the ladder for those people who graduate, or young professionals, to stay and live in Leeds city centre? Have they got the right services they need? I’m not always sure that there is.”

Lisa Littlefair, cities director at Mott Macdonald, agreed, and said it is a problem that is being actively considered.

“Our office is down at Wellington Place, and there’s an awful lot of development of that kind of accommodation going on around now, which is good,” she said. “But whether it’s sufficient, whether the services, the amenities, are all there for that kind of population, is another question. I know it is a question that the council are thinking about.”

Developers have also been thinking about the needs of this cohort, which has seen the emergence of a solution to plug the gap between PBSA and BTR.

Burrow said: “We’ve got another product that’s now coming through, which, again, has been a long time getting through the planning process, which is co-living.

“You see the quality of the accommodation that students are living in, in PBSA, and then they come out of that, and it’s quite a big jump to go to the rents that are BTR.

“It has felt like it needed a product to sit in between and I feel like that’s where the co-living. It works in London, but we haven’t got anything of scale like that in Leeds yet.”