Vastint UK and Countrylarge secure Leeds approvals, UCR must wait
Plans for upper floor residential at Vicar Lane and 400 apartments at Aire Park have been greenlit, but a decision was deferred on homes at the gateway junction of Wellington Road and Armley Road.
Vastint UK can now press on with its first residential play at Aire Park, following the successful competion of offices, park space and the Tetley’s conversion.
The approved plans will see 418 build-to-rent homes across seven buildings on the corner of Crown Point Road and Bowman Lane. Featuring studio, one, two and three-bedroom apartments, the new buildings also include 44 affordable homes. Cartwright Picjard is the architect.
Simon Schofield, head of development North at Vastint UK, said: “The first residential buildings are another major milestone in the future of the development and these will be the first of over 1,350 new homes within the completed Aire Park.
“We’re now preparing to start on site later this year, and looking forward to seeing the Aire Park community grow and evolve as it develops its unique identity and place within the city.”
The developer’s goal is to finish delivery of Aire Park as a whole by 2032, by which point it could be home to 11,000 workers and up to 3,000 residents.
Like Vastint UK, Countrylarge secured a unanimous approval from Leeds’ city plans panel yesterday. Members made a site visit to the 58-60 Vicar Lane project, which will see one retail unit of five at the Wray’s Building converted into a lobby area for 16 rental flats.
The grade two-listed complex sits close to Victoria Gate in Leeds’ retail heart.
A rear courtyard extension will be added to support the development in a project designed by Corstorphine & Wright that was warmly greeted by members and praised by statutory consultees for bringing an active use to a heritage setting, seeking to maintain and enhance historic features.
UCR Leeds, for which development manager Solaris UK filed plans for Wellington Road, must go back to the drawing board. With committee member Cllr Colin Campbell particularly strident, more is being asked of the applicant and architect Woods Bagot.
The panel has asked for more to be done to address the lack of green space across the site; to look again at affordable housing, and to try and create a more “interesting” proposal for the building closest to the junction – a setting that includes the likes of the Roundhouse.
The site has an extant consent for 306 homes, but the applicant is looking to take that up to 387 dwellings in a three-block proposal that is 18 storeys at its highest point, in the middle block.
Leeds councillors want to see design tweaks. Credit: planning documents
