Work to begin on Leeds Quarry Hill flats by end of year

The £300m SOYO – South of York Road – scheme will see an entirely new neighbourhood created, with apartments, bars, restaurants, a hotel and public realm spaces. It is the first major scheme on that particular site since the Quarry Hill flats were demolished in the 1970s.

Detailed planning permission has now been granted for the first phase of the Caddick Developments project, which will see 515 apartments built across two 16-storey blocks.

Named New York Square after nearby New York Road, it will also include a range of on-site facilities for tenants, including a cycle café, communal lounges, roof terraces and a fitness centre. Construction will begin later this year.

Johnny Caddick, a director at Caddick Developments, said he hoped the development would “help raise the bar locally for renters”.

He said: “Being right on the doorstep of major cultural institutions, at the heart of a brand new neighbourhood and on the cutting edge of the latest lifestyle trends, New York Square at SOYO will be one of the best places to live in Leeds.”

Caddick Developments has been working with the West Yorkshire Playhouse, which is set to have a £14m facelift, and Leeds City College, which has invested £57m into its new campus in the area, to make a collective change to Quarry Hill. The redevelopment was inspired by New York’s East Village and San Francisco’s SoMa district.