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Varieties adds spice to architecture awards
CITY JEWEL: The City Varieties, which underwent massive restoration in the last few years, reopening last September.
Leeds Architecture Awards 2012: City’s buildings battle for gongs
The ceremony will see architects, developers and re-generation specialists gather at Leeds Town Hall – voted Leeds’s Favourite Building by YEP readers at the 2010 ceremony – to celebrate the high quality of developments across the city.
Schemes in the running include Granary Wharf, Beeston’s sustainable housing development Greenhouse and the Quarry Hill headquarters of Northern Ballet and Phoenix Dance Theatre.
City Varieties, which re-opened after a £9.2m refurbishment in September, and Left Bank Leeds, a refurbished Hyde Park church now used as an events space, join them on the shortlist.
Community projects have also been recognised, including St George’s Crypt, a homeless charity based in Leeds city centre, which has been nominated in the Altered Buildings and Landscape and Public Realm categories.
Coun Richard Lewis, Leeds City Council’s executive member for development and economy, said: “It’s wonderful to see the contrast of developments at the Leeds Architecture Awards, from high-end commercial offices and mixed-use projects to local community and small-scale environmental developments. The awards have always celebrated quality and diversity in our built environment as we move towards realising the Leeds Arena and Trinity Leeds.”
Titles up for grabs include New Building, Conserved Building, Altered Building, Landscape and Public Realm – which includes public art schemes – and Temporary Works, a new category celebrating innovative use of vacant sites and buildings as work is halted and postponed.
Martin Farrington, director of development at Leeds City Council, said: “There are hundreds of examples of innovative uses for forgotten spaces and the responses to these places are becoming as important as the permanent places and spaces that we create.”
A keynote speech will be made by guest assessor John Lyall, known for his restoration of the historic Leeds Corn Exchange.
Sponsors for awards include Davis Langdon, Hammerton, Land Securities, Leeds College of Building, Leeds Metropolitan University and the University of Leeds.
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