Lumiere (skyscraper)
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Lumiere was a mixed-use
skyscraper A skyscraper is a tall continuously habitable building having multiple floors. Most modern sources define skyscrapers as being at least or in height, though there is no universally accepted definition, other than being very tall high-rise bui ...
development 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 ...
, 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 Royal Mail Group Limited, trading as Royal Mail, is a British postal service and courier company. It is owned by International Distribution Services. It operates the brands Royal Mail (letters and parcels) and Parcelforce Worldwide (parcels) ...
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, whic ...
, which had already seen a tall former Royal Mail office reclad to become apartments called
West Point The United States Military Academy (USMA), commonly known as West Point, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York that educates cadets for service as Officer_(armed_forces)#United_States, comm ...
. 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 SimpsonHaugh (formerly Ian Simpson Architects) is an English architecture practice established in 1987 by Ian Simpson and Rachel Haugh. The practice has offices in London and Manchester. In 2014, the practice re-branded as SimpsonHaugh & Pa ...
and, for the structural design,
WSP Group WSP Global Inc. is a Canadian consulting firm working mostly in the built environment. It was created in 2012, following Montreal-based Genivar's takeover of British firm WSP Group plc. It is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange. After the pur ...
. 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, following a ...
. 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 constructed large conservatories that housed tropical and subtropical pla ...
. 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 city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
if completed before the
Piccadilly Tower The Piccadilly Tower (Eastgate or Inacity Tower) is a proposed development designed by Woods Bagot in Manchester city centre, England. History The developer proposed to build a 58-storey, skyscraper. The tower would have 420 residential un ...
in
Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...
. 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
2008 financial crisis The 2008 financial crisis, also known as the global financial crisis (GFC), was a major worldwide financial crisis centered in the United States. The causes of the 2008 crisis included excessive speculation on housing values by both homeowners ...
, 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.


See also

*
List of tallest buildings in Leeds This list of the tallest buildings and structures in Leeds ranks skyscrapers, high-rises, and free-standing structures in Leeds, England by height. Leeds is the largest city in Yorkshire with a population of 536,280. It is considered the fina ...
*
Architecture of Leeds The architecture of Leeds, a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England, encompasses a wide range of architectural styles and notable buildings. As with most northern industrial centres, much of Leeds' prominent architecture is of ...


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