Large-scale regeneration is helping this former industrial powerhouse to stay a major UK player, says David Atkinson
Leeds is no stranger to innovation. During the heady days of the Industrial Revolution it expanded rapidly, becoming a hub for wool, textiles and engineering. The Leeds-Liverpool canal opened up trade with America in 1816, the Bank of England opened a satellite office in 1827, the railway arrived two decades later, and a certain Michael Marks (of Marks and Spencer fame) set up his first Penny Bazaar in 1884 at Kirkgate market. By the time Leeds gained city status in 1893, it was a booming metropolis.
Today, the arcades of the Victoria Quarter are crammed with designer labels and coffee shops, while cultural attractions such as the Henry Moore Institute attract international acclaim, and the largest financial and legal sector outside London keeps the city centre buzzing. Leeds has shaken off the torpor of post-industrial decline and recovered its civic pride.
South of the train station and the River Aire, Holbeck – the cradle of the city’s manufacturing age – is being reborn as the centre of the new service-sector economy. As a business hub, the smart money is on this area of regeneration, a district that 15 years ago would have been considered a no-go zone.
Designated an “urban village” by the council in 1999, the 20-hectare area comprises the developments of Granary Wharf, the Mint, Marshall’s Mill and Round Foundry media centre. The landscape is a work-in-progress mix of gritty smokestack heritage and modernist new-build, interspersed with a clutch of cosy gastropubs and refurbished workshops fringed by apartment-style residential developments.
Paul Stephens, chief economic development officer at Leeds City Council, says: “The importance of Holbeck Urban Village is twofold – it attracts different types of business and is close to the centre. It is [also] about bringing in new companies.”
A short walk from Holbeck leads from rubble-strewn wasteground to restored warehouses via a series of blue plaques celebrating Leeds’ contribution to the Industrial Revolution. About 80 companies have so far taken up premises in Marshall’s Mill and Round Foundry, ranging from solicitors to web designers. In the long term, the development is estimated to generate £800 million in investment.
The opening of Granary Wharf’s Mint hotel (re-branded from a City Inn – see Upfront, page 6) in 2009 served as a catalyst for the redevelopment of the area. Its trendy 13th-floor Sky Lounge overlooks the train station, the river and the South Bank, which is the next area proposed for revitalisation.
The government recently pledged its support for the proposed £15 million southern entrance to the station, backing directly on to Granary Wharf. Set to open by 2012, it will significantly increase footfall in the area, with the current estimated 17,000 commuters who walk south from the station each day expected to increase to 20,000. Business travellers will be able to walk from the train platform to the Mint hotel in minutes.
Meanwhile, the arrival of new places to eat and drink reflects the pace of change in the area and helps to extend the life of the community beyond office hours. Rodizio, a South American grill, and Out of the Woods, a funky deli and juice bar are the latest openings, having launched in November last year.
Paul Simmons, development director at Igloo Regeneration, which invests in sustainable urban renewal projects across the UK, shows me the Grade I Listed Temple Works, a former flax-spinning warehouse now owned by private developers and modelled on an Egyptian temple at Edfu. Currently undergoing structural renovations, it is set to become a major cultural venue.
The owners also intend to seek planning permission for a mixed-use development here. Simmons says: “The area appeals to the creative and digital industries, and incubation-style companies looking to expand. We’re trying to engender a sense of community here through events, newsletters and meetings.”
True North Productions, which makes documentaries for TV, moved into new premises in Marshall’s Mill in July 2009. Chief executive Glyn Middleton says: “We have better facilities, we’re five minutes from the train station and in walking distance of the city. It’s nice to feel in the middle of it all. Moving has definitely helped our identity as an independent production company.”
Back across the river, the central commercial district around City Square continues to evolve as a business hub. About one-third of local employment is accounted for by business and financial services, and the Queens and the New Ellington are among the hotels to have received a revamp (see panel, right). Leeds has 3,500 hotel rooms, with more than 6,500 in the wider area, and hosted 61,800 business events worth £562 million to the local economy in 2008. New venues are coming on stream (see panel, previous page), with the burgeoning university district able to accommodate increasingly large-scale meetings and conferences.
Stephens at the City Council says: “Finance will continue to be important but, in the future, the health and medicine sector will also grow. Creative industries will never be a huge employer, but they do help to generate a buzz, which is important for the local economy.”
In the long term, the 20-year plan for the regeneration of south Leeds will take the city to a new level, building a new business community, expanding the centre and, in the process, bringing a much-needed facelift to the historically deprived suburbs of Holbeck and Beeston.
But Leeds is not a carbon-copy of northern powerhouses Manchester and Newcastle, both also reborn in the past decade or so – it prides itself on a spirit of innovation and reinvention that follows on from the industrial age.
Stuart Ward, general manager of the New Ellington, sums it up: “The ongoing development of Leeds as a business travel hub is down to the price point compared with London, but the companies that do well here are the ones that understand what makes the city different – it’s friendlier, more honest and rich in cultural heritage. It just works.”
Go to visitleeds.co.uk, holbeckurbanvillage.co.uk
New event venues
Leeds United Centenary Pavilion
Leeds United opened the £2.5 million expansion of its conference space at the Elland Road ground in September. Located off the M621 in south Leeds, the venue is ideal for large events and product launches, with a capacity of 1,600 theatre-style. The club plans to refurbish the East Stand to include direct pitch access, and open a Leeds United-branded hotel on site by 2018.
- Elland Road; tel +44 (0)871 334 1919; leedsunitedvenue.com
Leeds City Museum
This £19.5 million museum opened in 2008, transforming the Grade II Listed Civic Institute building off Millennium Square. The Leeds Story, the permanent exhibition upstairs, traces the origins of the city from its Iron Age roundhouses to a concert by local favourites the Kaiser Chiefs. Two conference rooms accommodate 60 and 90 delegates theatre-style, and the galleries are available for receptions and private viewings.
- Millennium Square; tel +44 (0)113 224 3732; leeds.gov.uk/citymuseum
The Rose Bowl
Situated in the heart of the academic district, Leeds Metropolitan University’s £50 million Rose Bowl opened in spring 2009 with two lecture theatres (hosting 65-256 delegates) and four meeting spaces for 30 to 70 people. Nearby Broadcasting Place, another Leeds Metropolitan venue, was voted “the best tall building in the world” in autumn last year by the Chicago-based Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat. It accommodates 16 to 148 delegates in its 14 rooms.
- Leeds Metropolitan University; tel +44 (0)113 812 8555; wellmetconferencing.com
Northern Ballet
The six-floor Northern Ballet in central Leeds opened in October and has space for teambuilding events – try group movement sessions in one of the seven dance studios to get the blood flowing and brains in gear. It also offers a lecture theatre for up to 230 delegates, an atrium exhibition space, conference facilities and a café/bar.
- Quarry Hill; tel +44 (0)113 220 8000; northernballet.com
Leeds Arena
Coming in late 2012/early 2013, the new Leeds Arena will be primarily a music, entertainment and sports centre with capacity for 13,500 people, but will also be available for corporate events. With its striking honeycomb design, proposals for the city-centre venue include 4,000 sqm of public space, 24 executive boxes and a 100-seat restaurant.
- Visit leeds.gov.uk
For more venues visit conference-leeds.com
Where to stay
New Ellington
Reopened in September after a refurbishment, the New Ellington is a boutique hotel in the central business district. The 35 rooms are kitted out with user-friendly technology and there is a restaurant and a bar styled to reflect the property’s 1920s jazz-age feel. Two meeting rooms hold 14 to 18 delegates boardroom-style, and wifi is free.
- 23-25 York Place; tel +44 (0)844 815 9838; bespokehotels.com
- Rooms from £89
Mint hotel
Ideally placed for the station, the Mint (formerly City Inn) was the flagship hotel opening for the Granary Wharf district. Its 333 rooms have free wifi and iMacs. The Sky Lounge is good for cocktails, and there are 19 meeting spaces holding 12 to 77 people – rooms can be combined for larger groups.
- 2 Wharf Approach, Granary Wharf; tel +44 (0)113 241 1000; minthotel.com/leeds
- Rooms from £89
The Queens
This four-star property completed a £10.5 million revamp last year. Located next to the station on City Square, it combines modern facilities with 1930s art deco features and offers 215 bedrooms, two hours’ free wifi and 16 meeting spaces accommodating up to 600 delegates. The eighth-floor Q Club has 18 rooms and suites and an executive lounge.
- City Square; tel +44 (0)113 243 1323; qhotels.co.uk
- Rooms from £69
Radisson Blu
Just off the Headrow, one of the city’s main thoroughfares, the Radisson opened in 2002 in a historic former Leeds Permanent Building Society site refurbished as part of retail and entertainment complex the Light. It has 147 rooms with free wifi, a restaurant and bar, and nine meeting spaces.
- Number 1 the Light, the Headrow; tel +44 (0)113 236 6000; radissonblu.co.uk
- Rooms from £82
Quebecs
This stylish 45-room boutique property occupies a Grade II Listed building close to City Square. It has a cosy residents’ lounge and six meeting spaces for up to 20 people reception-style. Wired internet costs £10 per 24 hours.
- 9 Quebec Street; tel +44 (0)113 244 8989; theetoncollection.co.uk
- Rooms from £71
