£125m innovation district announced for Leeds’ South Bank
DEVELOPERS Citu will be investing £125m in a Climate Innovation District in Leeds, as part of the wider South Bank development.
The district will include 500 low carbon homes alongside manufacturing sites, offices and leisure facilities. Another pedestrian bridge will be built across the river.
Citu is attempting to transition to zero carbon cities with its Climate Innovation district.
Citu is developing 15 acres of brownfield land in Leeds’ South Bank
Chris Thompson, managing director and founder of Citu: “We are hugely excited to be launching what we expect will be a catalyst for the industry to help our cities transition towards being zero carbon.
“This is the biggest challenge of our generation and we need a step change in the way we develop our cities to reduce energy consumption in buildings and transport. We can make this into a viable economic model by using the latest technology and innovation from across the world.
“We have worked with leading Swedish architect, White Arkitekter, to design our neighbourhoods, who have been behind many of the progressive new neighbourhoods in Scandinavia. The Climate Innovation District, and in particular South Bank Leeds, presents an enormous opportunity for Leeds to be the first city in the UK, and possibly Europe, to create an ecologically pioneering district of this scale.”
The homes will be developed and manufactured at the nearby Citu Works, a £30m factory set to create 40 jobs. There, homes will be built which will require “substantially” less energy to run than conventional homes. They will be connected to smart districts to control energy systems.
Leader of Leeds City Council Councillor Judith Blake said: “We very much welcome Citu’s investment in South Bank Leeds and their ambition to create a Climate Innovation District.
“Together with the nearby secondary and further education facilities now taking shape, this scheme will support the development of a strong local community that will be essential to the success of South Bank Leeds. We look forward to watching the development take shape.”
Citu will be releasing further details about the development in late 2016 with the first residents to occupy homes from early 2017, and final completion by 2022.
