We’re delighted to share with you our fourth Planit ‘Studio Story’.
As UKREiiF, the largest conference in the UK driving transformative and sustainable regeneration is fast approaching, we felt it was the right time to share Planit’s Leeds story – our part in the evolving renewal of the South Bank area of the city.
Leeds has a grand plan – to double the size of its city centre population.
The South Bank Framework, drawn up by Danish studio Gehl with Arup, follows the contours of the River Aire which stretches from one side of the city, around Planit’s studio in Holbeck to the emerging Climate Innovation District.
People and place are at its heart. Connecting a series of sites, in different ownership, to create a coherent place, interconnected neighbourhoods and a thriving community that blends with the wider city. Planit is the Landscape Architect, working with our clients and other designers, to seamlessly connect the sites and people through new roads, cycle lanes and wayfinding, together with masses of perennial planting in new gardens and trees where car parks once lay.
The emerging South Bank is central to Leeds’s grand plan. It will realise a unique blend of residential, commercial, and recreational spaces that incorporates the UK’s largest public park, Aire Park. This expansive green space has been designed to actively restore and enhance natural habitats within its urban landscape, where people can reconnect to nature for generations to come.
We hope you enjoy our story.
Leeds has a grand plan to double the size of the city center population. Drawn up by Danish studio Gale with Arab. The South Bank framework has people and place at its heart. It looks to connect a series of sites in different ownership to create a coherent place, interconnected neighborhoods and a thriving community to become part of the wider city. It follows the contours of the river air stretching from one side of the city around our studio at Hullbeck to the emerging climate innovation district. The potential for the South Bank is huge and plays a large part in Leed’s grand plan to bring a unique blend of residential, commercial, and recreational spaces to life. But to connect it, you need to build bridges. Not just conventional bridges in the air, but land bridges that connect people and nature with a growing city at street level. Some of those bridges represent small steps. An improved road crossing or a new sign showing the way. Others make big steps. Strides to a fairer city. These connections have already started to happen. In 2023, the David Ulawi Memorial Bridge opened. It’s dedicated to the memory of a Nigerian man who died in tragic circumstances in 1969. and it links the station to the south bank. The new cycle lanes at Meadow Lane shift the power from car dominated space. Now masses of perennial planting bloom in gardens where car parks once stood.