Three landmark office blocks are among plans being considered for the former site of one of Britain’s oldest daily newspapers.
In February, 2012, it was announced that printing of The Yorkshire Post and Yorkshire Evening Post would be switched from the papers’ Wellington Street, Leeds, plant to a new base at Dinnington near Sheffield. Two years later the riverside site was acquired by YP Real Estate and the majority of buildings flattened.
Now, the landowner has submitted plans for a 500,000 sq ft mixed use development for around 60 per cent of the brown field site, pledging to transform the remainder into open space and leisure amenities for future office workers and residents.
Included in the application is provision for three detached office buildings — targeted at international corporations seeking UK headquarters — facing the city’s inner ring road. There would also be a hotel and a separate 200-unit residential block.
To support the 4,000 workers and residents, the scheme incorporates a range of piazza level retail and leisure facilities in what would largely be a pedestrianised zone. Designed to function as a stand-alone destination, the developer says its project would be fully integrated with proposed adjoining schemes.
“Our design team has worked collaboratively with a dedicated team from Leeds City Council for a number of months to evolve this scheme,” said Paul Fox, of Fox Lloyd Jones, which is acting as agents for YP Real Estate.
“It is now at a point where we feel the proposal meets a wide range of stakeholders’ aspirations and will offer a positive contribution to the future growth and development of the city.
“We are collectively very excited about the scheme which provides a market facing mix of uses and building sizes. We believe the site will become a high profile landmark development which will dramatically announce arrival into Leeds city centre,” added Fox.
In the application being considered by planners the scheme is described as “a major piece of urban regeneration … that will further the local economy whilst helping to meet the housing needs of Leeds in a highly sustainable location”.
Fox said that an earlier scheme to use the site as a car park had been abandoned because of the Yorkshire capital’s urgent need for Grade A office space.
“Current occupier demand and dynamics in Leeds are such that it is hoped an early consent can be secured to promote marketing of the site on a national and even international level given the schemes suitability to accommodate large space users and potentially major inward investment relocations,” he explained.
In response to a separate application, consent was last week granted for the re-cladding of the iconic former Yorkshire Post clock tower on the Wellington Street site. It will be adapted to display digital media advertising and retained.
The Yorkshire Post was first published as a daily newspaper in 1866, but can trace its roots back to 1754 with the launch of the Leeds Intelligencer. Its biggest scoop was breaking the news of the Edward VIII abdication crisis.
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