This is the £400m blueprint to build 1,500 homes and create a community at Leeds Kirkstall Forge

Over the next six months, staff who work for the property group CEG, will literally be taking their work home with them.
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They will be taking it in turns to move into two prototype houses, which have been built at Kirkstall Forge, ahead of what is set to be an entirely new community on the outskirts of Leeds city centre.

It’s not every day that a house developer sends its staff to live in the homes it is building as part of a £400m development but here they are taking a different approach to the future of house-building, which, as Emma Ryan finds out in the final day of the Yorkshire Evening Post’s series on housing in Leeds, needs to change.

Fine-tuning

A CGI of what the houses at Kirkstall Forge might look like.A CGI of what the houses at Kirkstall Forge might look like.
A CGI of what the houses at Kirkstall Forge might look like.
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They will discover how easy or hard it is to live in the house to its current design, taking note of things like whether the kitchen layout is user-friendly or whether the light switch would be better on a different wall and whether the living room needs more plug sockets.

Their feedback will be used to fine-tune plans before building gets underway on the 57 acre development that will see 1,500 homes, 400,000 sq ft of commercial, retail and leisure space and a primary school.

It is an unusual approach for a commercial venture but David Hodgson, head of strategic planning, explains: “We are bound by the same policy restrictions that every other house-builder is but always strive to do something different.

“The quality of the houses are going to be significantly greater than others that might be available. We want to stand out in the market, generate that interest and get the whole market moving and that has significant wider benefits.

David Hodgson from CEG.David Hodgson from CEG.
David Hodgson from CEG.
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“This is a pretty innovative way of looking at it but we are not a house-builder that has a standard model of having so many five bedroomed houses and three bedroomed houses. Members of staff will live in for the next six months and every time somebody stays in one there is a feedback form and we will use all of this to make them the best that we possibly can.”

When CEG has detailed consent they will look to build the first two blocks (80 houses) and hope to be on site by the middle of the year.

A planning application for commercial space is also in the pipeline and set to go before city planners next month.

Phased approach

An impression of what the redevelopment of Temple Works area may look like.An impression of what the redevelopment of Temple Works area may look like.
An impression of what the redevelopment of Temple Works area may look like.

The redevelopment of the Kirkstall Forge site, which was first occupied by monks from the Abbey around 800 years ago before spending decades in industrial use, is being done in phases that flip from housing to leisure to retail and infrastructure.

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That is why, says Mr Hodgson, that the train station and Butler’s restaurant were put in first and have been operational for a few years now.

The office space is also now 100 per cent let. All of this creates a level of funding and income that can, in turn, be ploughed back into the project.

Creating a community

He explains: “Place-making has come to the fore. What we are trying to do with Kirkstall Forge is create the place before we build the houses rather than it coming afterwards. People are seeing that as we have had a number of high-profile political visits.

“Developing brown-field in the north of England is difficult given where values sit.

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“The issue is competing by looking at infrastructure. We always thought the train station needs to come first. Without it, the grade A city centre spec offices would not be possible because there wouldn’t be the market there.

“We have provided a food and drink outlet that is open to the public and went with a local operator rather than the offer from the high street. It is used by walkers, mums and friends so it has become much more sustainable. That word is bandied around a lot but it needs to be the whole package.”

Infrastructure

If that creates a place where people want to live, then in time there will also need to be the shops, outdoor space and a school – but at the right time.

Mr Hodgson added: “It is extremely difficult to do and does require a joined up approach with the different organisations. People will say ‘why do you have a new development with x number of houses and no new school’ but you can’t open one on the same day you open the first house –it wouldn’t function.

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“The same comes with highways and the social infrastructure.

“You can’t have a shop or a retail element to a scheme all at the same time.”

Another demand that is being placed on house developers is the need to address the carbon footprint and while the list of eco-friendly demands by planning authorities is set to increase – the question is balancing the cost of it.

“The question is not whether it is difficult, it is not particularly, what can be difficult is the cost of these measures to make sure you get a return over a fixed period of time and your buyer would be prepared to pay and recognise the benefit of having that.”

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“For example, to install an electric car charging point can cost between £500 to £1000 just for one. Will the purchaser recognise the value in having that but if 20 per cent of cars on the road are electric that will go on over the next five to ten years and it will be essential rather than a tick box.”

Temple Works

CEG is also working a £350m project to renovate a former mill and the surrounding area in the city’s South bank area. It includes the eight plus acre site around Water Lane and Globe Road which CEG secured planning permission for in 2018, as well as the historic Grade 1 listed Temple Mill, which was acquired in early 2018.

Mr Hodgson said: “The city has always grown to the north but to the south there was this area that seemed forgotten about, had not really captured people’s imagination. But once you get into it and the heritage and the existing communities it is very compelling.

“It is a very different product to Kirkstall. There you have the river, green valley and nature. At Temple it is heritage, the canal, city. You have got to take each individual site andmaximise it rather than shoehorn a standard product into that environment because it will jar.”

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