Perspectives 2019

This will put South Bank Leeds on the map as a place to live, work and enjoy An inclusive growth strategy For local government, South Bank represents a major regeneration priority that will facilitate inclusive growth. Leeds City Council has been a major driver in planning the development and raising support for it, with its leader Councillor Judith Blake commenting: “Leeds is a compassionate city with a strong economy and a thriving development scene, and we are committed to placing the needs of our residents at the heart of our plans for inclusive growth and making sure areas such as the South Bank are places that residents want to live and work. The transformation of the South Bank will see the city centre of Leeds double in size, with the potential to offer thousands of new jobs and homes, as well as connecting and opening up new routes in for neighbouring communities. The area is the proposed location for the new HS2 station, and integrated Leeds Station, the busiest transport hub in the North, and will therefore have an extremely positive impact on the connectivity of Leeds to the rest of the UK. “We co-produced the South Bank regeneration framework to guide the future regeneration of the area and worked extensively with developers, businesses and communities to ensure we got the right plans for the city and the community is will serve. There is fantastic momentum in this area of the city, with over 1,000 homes already under construction, the new City Park plans due to start next year ahead of opening by 2023, and a thriving creative and digital sector settling here. It is an area where we are really seeing our ambitions starting to come fruition and are very much looking forward to see the developments come forward in this area.” The success of South Bank will be judged not only on the scale of commercial office space and the number of homes that are built (although these are in their own right key goals), but on the extent to which local communities derive benefit from the growth. For South Bank, this means making opportunities available to all, creating a highly skilled, inclusive and representative workforce, and connecting local people to jobs through better links with employers, schools, and surrounding neighbourhoods. We look forward to seeing the scheme’s success as it unfolds over the coming months and years. CUSHMAN & WAKEFIELD 31 REGIONAL SPOTLIGHT