Thursday, July 10th 2008
Leeds' skyline put on hold
Lumiere Tower 2. Copyright KW Linfoot
Lumiere was set to be Europe’s tallest residential tower until it was announced yesterday that building work has been stopped.
Property developers KW Linfoot have put the site on hold during the ‘credit crunch’ until the market stabilises, adamant that this decision is merely temporary and the project has not been mothballed.
Indications of this latest decision were noticed back in may when the proposed 24 storey Spiracle Tower, to be built on the former Leeds International Pool site, was scrapped.
As much as this news is disappointing, I can’t help but wonder why it didn’t happen sooner. As I travel into the west of the city by train every morning I pass towers of empty apartments and commercial units that have completely tipped the supply and demand balance on it’s side. Yet other building sites are as busy as ever?!
I feel it would be a real shame if the project doesn’t go ahead, architecturally it’s a fantastic looking building and for Leeds it would be a great landmark – similar to that of Manchester’s Beetham Tower which can be seen for miles around.
This news is not necessarily the end of the world however, Bridgewater Place, the current tallest building in Leeds, was put on hold and redesigned delaying its eventual construction by several years.
Posted by Richard on Thursday 10th of July 2008 at 10:39am
Subscribe
You have to feel sorry for the people who've bought (and part paid for) flats off plan that are now not going to be built. Guess that will continue to help the rental market
Posted by Siân on Friday 11th of July 2008 at 12:47pm