Design process
In 1991, the industrial area of Northern Holbeck was designated as a conservation area, not only to preserve it but to encourage its regeneration as a sustainable community and reconnect it to the waterfront and Leeds city centre. With growing pressure for the redevelopment of derelict industrial buildings, Leeds City Council released Supplementary Planning Guidance (SPG) for the area and designated it as an Urban Village in 1999. Shortly afterwards, Building Design Partnership (BDP) was appointed by the developer, CTP St. James to design the Round Foundry development. Leeds City Council and Yorkshire Forward then commissioned BDP Planning in 2000 to prepare a Planning Framework for the wider HUV area based on urban village principles to enable it to become a genuine mixed-use quarter of Leeds.
The Round Foundry development was planned in two separate stages. Phase one included 96 one and two bedroom apartments, 4,475 m2 of office space and 2,200 m2 of retail/pub/restaurant space. Phase two of the project is currently underway, and will include 4,350 m2 of office space and 335 m2 of pub/restaurant space and a number of public art works. Affordable housing provision in the Round Foundry was fixed at about 5%, represented by six privately-managed one-bed flats out of just over 100 units. This relatively low percentage was agreed with the Council to reflect the challenges of developing this complex site.
English Heritage had listed historic buildings in the area between 1987 and 1996 and a thorough appraisal of the heritage merit of the Round Foundry site informed BDP's approach to the scheme. Building remains were investigated and recorded and photographic evidence was taken, in order to establish a thorough understanding of the area's character and a plan for conservation. Recent low grade structures were demolished and early buildings on the site were repaired using conservation best practice. Up to 33% of the hand-made bricks at Round Foundry were salvaged and reused, whilst the original cast iron columns that once supported the first generation of specialist engineering workshops in the world remain in the newly repaired buildings. Due to structural instability, a number of the site's many listed buildings were systematically dismantled and rebuilt brick-by-brick to retain their original integrity. New buildings were then designed to complement the repaired buildings rather than to mimic their architectural style.
Phase one of the Round Foundry development was completed in 2004 and the Council is now addressing social and economic issues in the neighbourhood. A Business Support Officer has been appointed, to attract businesses to locate in the area and to provide advice to new business start-ups. The area is to receive four Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs), working with the local Police to provide a visible patrol and give an increased sense of security and personal safety for people living and working in the area. Before the regeneration programme, the area was an established red-light district and two outreach workers have been appointed to provide advice to women, and access to drug rehabilitation programmes and education. A community engagement centre is also planned for part of the Tower Works site.
Consultation has been very important in the development of the Round Foundry scheme and the regeneration of the wider Holbeck Urban Village. Landowners, developers and local businesses were invited to hear about proposals for the public realm in Holbeck in July 2005; an event aimed at developers, to explore the importance of high quality design in developments, was held in February 2006; and a public exhibition and consultation event is planned for April 2006.
A partnership board meets quarterly to steer the delivery of the wider Holbeck Urban Village regeneration programme and a Holbeck Urban Village Forum has been established, with input from Leeds Civic Trust, in order to provide comment on major schemes in the area. Project officers at Leeds City Council and Yorkshire Forward also work in close consultation with one another on the day-to-day project management of the regeneration programme for the neighbourhood.
