Lumiere was a mixed-use

skyscraper A skyscraper is a tall continuously habitable building having multiple floors. Modern sources currently define skyscrapers as being at least or in height, though there is no universally accepted definition. Skyscrapers are very tall Tower bl ...

development in

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by popula ...

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. It is an inland and upland county having eastward-draining valleys while taking in the moors of the Pennines. West Yorkshire came into exis ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separa ...

, intended to be completed in 2010. The project was put on hold in 2008 and officially cancelled in 2010.

Design and planning

The project represented the second phase of the redevelopment of a

Royal Mail , kw, Postya Riel, ga, An Post Ríoga , logo = Royal Mail.svg , logo_size = 250px , type = Public limited company , traded_as = , foundation = , founder = Henry VIII , location = London, England, UK , key_people = * Keith William ...

sorting office A sorting office or processing and distribution center (P&DC; name used by the United States Postal Service (USPS)) is any location where postal operators bring mail after collection for sorting into batches for delivery to the addressee, whi ...

, which had already seen a tall former Royal Mail office reclad to become apartments called

West Point The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known metonymically as West Point or simply as Army, is a United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a fort, since it sits on strategic high grou ...

. It was planned than Lumiere would consist of two towers of heights 54 storeys / and 32 storeys / , both clad in glass, with the taller tower predominantly blue and the smaller tower of a reddish hue. The developers behind the project were KW Linfoot and Scarborough Development Group, and the designers were SimpsonHaugh and Partners and, for the structural design,

WSP Group WSP Global Inc. is a Canadian company with American and British roots, providing management and consultancy services to the built and natural environment. It is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange. After the purchase of New York-headquartered ...

. The construction was being carried out by

Carillion Carillion plc was a British multinational construction and facilities management services company headquartered in Wolverhampton in the United Kingdom, prior to its liquidation in January 2018. Carillion was created in July 1999, followi ...

. If construction had proceeded the building would have housed a mixture of apartments, offices, shops, cafés, restaurants and a

winter garden A winter garden is a kind of garden maintained in wintertime. History The origin of the winter garden dates back to the 17th to 19th centuries where European nobility would construct large conservatories that would house tropical and subtro ...

. There would have been over of retail space and of usable office space in the development, and several restaurants and eating establishments. There would also have been around 650 apartments, communal areas and apartments designed by YOO designs. If completed according to the original proposals, the tower would have become the tallest building in Leeds and Western Europe's tallest residential skyscraper. It would have exceeded the height of Beetham Tower Manchester, to become the tallest building in the United Kingdom outside

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

if completed before the Piccadilly Tower in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

. On 21 July 2006 councillors approved the proposals, with construction scheduled to begin in 2007.

Construction

Groundwork began with boreholes in spring 2007; throughout the late summer of 2007 the site was cleared. In September 2007 work commenced to excavate and remove the existing foundations and basement of the previous Royal Mail building. Substructure work began in early 2008, with the piling works by Cementation Skanska completed by June 2008.

Suspension

However, on 9 July 2008, developers KW Linfoot announced that the project had been put on hold due to the

credit crunch A credit crunch (also known as a credit squeeze, credit tightening or credit crisis) is a sudden reduction in the general availability of loans (or credit) or a sudden tightening of the conditions required to obtain a loan from banks. A credit cr ...

, and construction would not resume until the economy stabilised. Following the postponement of construction, it was announced that the developer had received approval from Leeds City Council to include an additional floor in each tower, the two towers now comprising 55 storeys and 33 storeys. This increased the planned height of each tower by . In February 2009 the developers of Lumiere, KW Linfoot, went into administration; the development was a joint venture and was taken over completely by KW Linfoot's joint venture partners. In August 2010, the owners of the Lumiere development announced they would enter voluntary liquidation, meaning the building will not now be built. The investors will recover their money as they are covered by an insurance policy.

References

External links

Lumiere on Skyscraper News
{{City of Leeds Buildings and structures in Leeds Twin towers Skyscrapers in Leeds Unbuilt buildings and structures in the United Kingdom

Design and planning

Construction

Suspension

See also

References

External links