Bridgewater Place owner agrees to work to reduce wind issues
THE owners of Yorkshire’s tallest building have finally agreed to take responsibility for a comprehensive scheme to reduce wind issues around the building and in the nearby roadway.
Since early 2008 Leeds City Council has been pushing for a detailed design solution to combat problems caused by high winds around Bridgewater Place.
Strong winds close to the 32-storey building led to a lorry being blown over in 2011, killing pedestrian Edward Slaney.
The extreme weather conditions on Sunday and Monday this week saw traffic diverted away from the building.
A number of measures have already been put in place to make the area safer for passers-by and road users including 180m of guard rail installed and banning all HGVs from Victoria Bridge, but the council has been actively pursuing a permanent scheme for the building and road.
The council also appointed design company Buro Happold to devise a sophisticated solution to address wind problems not just for the building itself – as proposed by its owners – but also for the environment around it.
Now the owners of the building, CPPI Bridgewater Place, have agreed to take on responsibility for the entire scheme and appoint the same design company to speed up its progress. It has been indicated that plans may be submitted to the council before Christmas this year.
Up until recently they had accepted responsibility only for wind mitigation measures on their own land and not for the adjacent highway.
Councillor Richard Lewis, Leeds City Council’s executive member for development and the economy, said: “This is excellent news that will deliver the solution we have been striving towards for a considerable length of time. We have always insisted that we will not settle for anything that falls short of a complete design scheme to combat the dangers of high winds to both pedestrians and road users around Bridgewater Place.
“We now look forward to the company presenting its plans to the council before the end of the year.”
Officers are now to formally request permission of the council’s executive board to put on hold the work done so far with Buro Happold, on which councillors agreed spending of up to £245,000 in February this year, to allow the owners to take over the scheme.
A potential solution had been identified for the council by the company’s wind experts which involves canopies and large screens on the building and a number of four metre deep “baffles” to be placed six metres above Water Lane.
Intensive wind tunnel testing by specialists of the design has produced “very promising results”, with significant improvements to other options previously tested.
