Solaris ups the ante with Wellington Road BTR

With designs by Woods Bagot, the development manager has lodged plans to upgrade the Leeds project from an existing consent for 306 apartments to 384 homes.

Solaris Real Estate is working for UCR Leeds to deliver the scheme, should consent be secured for the site, at the junction with Armley Road.

Where the 2021 scheme comprised two blocks of nine storeys flanking a central block of 11-15 floors, the new scheme looks from the CGIs provided in planning documents to have the three blocks topping out at 14, 18 and nine storeys.

Externally, there would be 29,000 sq ft of landscaped areas and a residents’ terrace of 5,700 sq ft.

In an area increasingly plugged into walking and cycleways into the city centre, only seven car parking spaces are included.

The breakdown of the homes are 199 one-bedroom, 139 two-bedroom, and 46 three-bedroom, with 2,100 sq ft of flexible space.

Development on the empty site, just off Leeds’ inner ring road, would provide a neighbour for heritage buildings in the area including the Roundhouse, Solk House and Castleton Mill and add further momentum to that provided by schemes such as Latitude. The Junction, City Reach and Canal Mills.

UCR Leeds’ plans for the site, on which ID Planning is advising, went before Leeds City Council’s city plans panel for a position statement in May, with the scheme being slightly tweaked since: the overall apartment number is up by one, with two-bedroom apartments growing slightly in the mix.

The existing consent, which was approved as recently as July 2023, is for 306 apartments, 1,000 sq ft of F&B space and 3,500 sq ft of offices.  That was granted to Leedsgate Ltd, advised by planner Johnson Mowat with designs by Den Architecture.

UCR Leeds’ proposals have now been validated on the Leeds planning portal, with the reference 24/04241/FU.

There will be communal outdoor space at the project. Credit: planning documents