Description
The Round Foundry was established over 200 years ago as a manufactory of steam engines, becoming the first factory to pull together the different elements of steam engine manufacture on one site. It is the only surviving first-generation engineering works anywhere in the country and is therefore of significant industrial archaeology value. The recent scheme involves selective demolition of recent structures, conversion and adaptive re-use of a number of listed buildings on the site, and the construction of new buildings.
The scheme comprises a variety of uses including residential, business and workspace developments to bring life to the area throughout the day. The site's office buildings are inhabited by companies from the creative industries many of which collaborate, giving the area a dynamic quality. The mix of uses generates added vibrancy and active street life.
The layout of the existing and new buildings recreates the scale and character of the original streets on the site and encourages pedestrian traffic through it using a series of courtyards linked by pedestrian routes. The original courtyards acted as service areas during the buildings' period of industrial use and the transformation of these into attractive public spaces is testament to the high quality and considered design throughout the scheme.
Building elevations are finished in a variety of materials, with natural stone predominating next to the early buildings. The Round Foundry building that gave the site its name was destroyed by fire in 1875 and is commemorated in BDP's landscape design by an inscribed iron ring marking the footprint of the building. Other distinctive design elements, which feature throughout the site, include plaques commemorating the Foundry's history and public art displays of machinery used in the original manufacturing process.
The surrounding Holbeck Urban Village contains a number of listed buildings from Leeds' industrial era, including Tower Works, Temple Works and Marshall's Mill and these buildings will be developed in a subsequent phase of the programme. Yorkshire Forward has committed to locating a sustainable skills centre at Tower Works and it is envisaged that this will be completed in 2008.
A key concept underlying the development of Holbeck Urban Village is the reconnection of the area to the canal to the north, and the city centre and main station less than a kilometre beyond this. Landmark buildings are planned for the canalside, and to the west of the canal, the Italianate towers of the listed mills will provide legibility for a series of plazas leading out from the city centre. Plans also exist to adapt an unused rail viaduct into a raised green corridor, leading from the Village into the city centre and providing views of the surrounding area.
