Defence Online

A new apartment scheme and elevated public park have been proposed for a major brownfield site in Leeds, which was once earmarked for a residential development featuring four towers ranging from 13 to 33 storeys in height.The 4.2-acre former Doncaster Monkbridge site is off Whitehall Road, overlooked by No 1 Leeds and contains the grade II-listed former railway viaduct along the southern boundary. To the north of the land in question is a complex of former historic railway buildings comprising the grade II*-listed Roundhouse and the grade II-listed Half Roundhouse.A company controlled by investment services group Alpha Real Capital has lined up a scheme incorporating 567 apartments. As well as the homes, the application proposes the repair and refurbishment of the grade II-listed viaduct, which is roughly the same length and width as Briggate, to create a new elevated public park and a mix of commercial units within the viaduct arches.Five buildings are envisaged, three of which would be home to 307 apartments targeted at the private rented sector (PRS), alongside a further 260 flats in two more buildings available for open market sale.The listed viaduct would be repaired to provide a new elevated landscaped public park that will connect to the Wellington Place development to the east, with the physical mechanism for achieving this link yet to be agreed.There would also be 59,000 sq ft of public open space along most of the top of the viaduct, with a further 39,800 sq ft of private communal space for the residents of the PRS apartments.Arches to the viaduct would also be repaired and refurbished to provide new commercial space including retail units, cafes, bars and restaurants with a glazed covered space proposed for the triangular area between the two viaduct limbs.Car parking is to be provided beneath each of the buildings with approximately 119 spaces.The emerging proposals will be examined at a pre-application presentation later this week (27 October 2016), prior to the intended submission of a hybrid planning and listed building consent application.Sir Alfred McAlpine is in place as a construction partner and, subject to approval, work is intended to commence on site in the summer of 2017, with completion in 2019.