Bridgewater Place, nicknamed The

Dalek The Daleks ( ) are a fictional extraterrestrial race of extremely xenophobic mutants principally portrayed in the British science fiction television programme ''Doctor Who''. They were conceived by writer Terry Nation and first appeared in th ...

, is an office and residential skyscraper in

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a Metropolitan counties of England, metropolitan and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and east, South Yorkshire and De ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. It was the tallest building in

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

at the time of being

topped out In building construction, topping out (sometimes referred to as topping off) is a builders' rite traditionally held when the last beam (or its equivalent) is placed at the top of a structure during its construction. Nowadays, the ceremony is ofte ...

in September 2005, but is now the second-tallest after another Leeds building, Altus House. Bridgewater Place is visible from up to away.

The Building

Leeds unveiled plans for Bridgewater Place in 2001, as an £80 million 30-storey tower with eight floors of office and retail space and the rest given over to flats and penthouses. There were doubts at the time from local watchdogs about its potential wind and shade characteristics, but

Leeds City Council Leeds City Council is the local authority of the City of Leeds in West Yorkshire, England. Leeds has had a council since 1626, which has been reformed on numerous occasions. Since 1974 it has been a metropolitan borough council. It provides the ...

was enthusiastic about having a true skyscraper downtown. Construction was expected to finish in autumn of 2003. The building was ultimately completed in April 2007. At the time, it was the tallest and largest building in Yorkshire, with 32 storeys, a height of 110m, and 400,000 sq ft of space, although it was exceeded in height by the local 330m Emley Moor TV mast. It was called "the Dalek" in the ''

Yorkshire Evening Post The ''Yorkshire Evening Post'' (''YEP'') is a regional daily newspaper covering the City of Leeds. Founded in 1890 it is published by Yorkshire Post Newspapers, National World. Despite being having coverage and being sold across West Yorkshire ...

'' within a month of opening. Although the ''Evening Post'' stood up for it then despite the nickname, it has perennially been deemed an eyesore. Aedas was nominated for the Carbuncle Cup in 2008 on its account, it was found in a 2023 study to be one of the top ten buildings worldwide called "ugly" most frequently on Twitter, and

Owen Hatherley Owen Hatherley (born 24 July 1981) is a British writer and journalist based in London who writes primarily on architecture, politics and culture. Early life Hatherley was born on 24 July 1981, in Southampton, growing up in a 1930s suburban esta ...

said in 2011 that it looks "very cheap," though he allowed that it "at least...has some personality." An Aedas architect involved in the project said he feels that "some of the bad press isbuilding has received has shown a lack of understanding of the constraints every architect works under."

Wind microclimate

Following the Property reaching practical completion in April 2007, it became apparent that the Property had created an unacceptable wind microclimate, principally to the north of the Property on Water Lane and also at the junction with Water Lane/Neville Street. It was found that the Property was accelerating winds coming from a westerly direction and also creating wind downdraft from the residential tower. Wind speeds were measured as high as 79 mph, comparable to a hurricane. One person suffered a torn liver and internal bleeding, and cuts requiring 11 stitches, and a buggy with a three-month-old child was pushed out into the road by a sharp gust. In March 2011, a local man, Dr Edward Slaney, was killed by a lorry overturned on him by a gust. The Crown Prosecution Service advised against bringing charges of corporate manslaughter against the architects, Aedas. As a result, a wind mitigation scheme (the “Wind Scheme”) was implemented, with construction of the Wind Scheme (comprising a canopy, five screens on the west side of the building and three “baffles” in Water Lane) being completed in summer 2018. The owners of Bridgewater Place at the time, CPPI Bridgewater Place, agreed to pay the £903,000 cost of installation. In December 2013, at the inquest into Dr Slaney's death, the coroner recommended to Leeds City Council that they institute high wind safety procedures around Bridgewater Place while the wind mitigation works were being built. Leeds City Council did this in February 2014. When winds were above 35 mph, the city diverted high sided vehicles from the area, and when above 45 mph, they closed the roads to non-emergency vehicles and diverted pedestrians behind a screen. In October 2019, over a year after the completion of the wind mitigation works, experts hired by Bridgewater Place found that the works had reduced the risk to the public satisfactorily, and an independent expert hired by Leeds verified their findings. Leeds City Council lifted the safety restrictions at their next meeting, charging CPPI Bridgewater Place a total of £1.223 million with the cost of the road closures. The safety problems caused by the building have affected proposals for other high-rise developments in the city. In August 2016, when submitting plans for Bridge Street, the developers stated that extensive wind tests were being undertaken to avoid 'another Bridgewater Place'.

Gallery

File:The upper parts of Bridgewater Place seen from New Lane.jpg File:Bridgewater Place from the junction of Victoria Road and New Lane (April 2010) 001.jpg File:Great Wilson Street and Bridgewater Place, Leeds - geograph.org.uk - 199854.jpg, Side view of the Bridgewater Place development under construction File:Leeds (51), September 2009.JPG, View of the Bridgewater place from Doubletree hotel File:Bridgewater Place Leeds.PNG File:Bridgewater Place and BMB Group building (19th September 2010).jpg, Contrast of old and new architecture in the area File:Leeds building heights (Bridgewater Place).svg, Height of Bridgewater Place compared to the height of other existing and approved tall buildings in Leeds

Notes

References

External links