Leeds continues council homes push
Wates Construction has started work in Seacroft and Gipton, in the latest stage of the city’s council housing growth programme.
A total of 88 new homes are being built for Leeds City Council across a number of brownfield sites in Seacroft and the Ambertons area of Gipton.
In Seacroft, 25 one-bedroom apartments and eight two and three-bedroom houses are taking shape on land at the corner of Brooklands Avenue and Seacroft Crescent.
In Gipton, 55 properties – including two, three and four-bedroom houses and one-bedroom bungalows – are being built on Amberton Terrace, Amberton Crescent, Amberton Street and Montagu Avenue.
Work is now in full swing following some preparatory activity late last year, with completion due before the end of 2025.
The West Yorkshire Combined Authority signed off on support for the work late in 2023 as it looked to push on with allocating its £89m Brownfield Housing Fund as the programme’s final year approaches.
All of the properties will be made available as council housing at affordable rents. They will have air source heat pumps and will be level access.
Cllr James Lewis, leader of Leeds City Council, said: “We want Leeds to be a national standard-bearer for regeneration and inclusive growth, with thriving communities that offer opportunities for all and a real sense of belonging.
“Delivering the kind of housing that people need is therefore a priority for us, so it’s fantastic news that construction has begun on these properties in Seacroft and Gipton.
“The involvement of both the West Yorkshire Combined Authority and Wates also underlines the way in which partnership working can help us bring about positive changes that make our city an even better place to live.”
Cllr Jess Lennox, Leeds City Council’s executive member for housing, said: “The work now under way in Seacroft and Gipton is a fine example of the impressive results being achieved by our Council Housing Growth Programme.
“We know the difference that good quality, energy efficient and affordable homes make to people’s lives, and that’s why we want schemes like this one – and the other, equally-impressive projects we have completed in recent times – to be just the start of a city-wide housebuilding success story.”
More than 300 new homes have been built through the CHGP since 2018, with the Gascoigne House extra care facility in Middleton and the redevelopment of a former tower block site at Meynell Approach in Holbeck among the major completed projects.
Around 270 homes have also been acquired as part of the programme.
Recent figures for the period up to 2025 showed that, across Leeds, nearly 1,600 affordable homes were under construction or in the pre-construction or feasibility stages of development thanks to the CHGP as well as other council-backed schemes delivered by partners.
Wates has been working on the CHGP since 2020.
