If you regularly travel to Leeds by train from London, you will soon see a series of sleek new buildings rising on the skyline to welcome you as you enter the city. With buildings rising from six storeys to culminate in a 31storey tower, this will be some welcome. Who knows what Leeds’ Victorian city fathers would have made of this brave new architecture, but they would surely have approved of this clear statement of the Yorkshire city’s confidence.
George Wimpey City’s Green Bank is large in scale, comprising 833 apartments plus more than 3,000 square metres of commercial space, and yet its mass will be softened by its setting. It is sited in new hard and soft landscaped courtyards beside a river walk.
The project is being developed on a semi-industrial site that is surrounded by the city’s past and present transport links: the railway line, the River Aire and canal, and one of the main road arteries into the city centre. Assael Architecture’s scheme design emphasises the natural curve of the railway viaduct, river and canal through its sweep of buildings. The architecture is articulated in a range of materials: masonry, timber and metal with render.
The star of the show, the 31 storey tower cuts into the sky, its copper cladding serving to emphasise its look-at-me landmark status. The supporting players, the lower buildings in the development, have green roofs to enhance the feeling that this is a green space, albeit one in a thoroughly urban setting.
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