The Highways Site Development

Introduction

This market sounding exercise is being undertaken to obtain the views of potential contractors in the marketplace to inform our procurement process and proposed strategy for the appointment of contractors to undertake development of the site previously known as The Highways.

The market sounding exercise does not form part of any formal procurement process. Any information provided by the Council in the course of this market sounding will not be made available to bidders under any subsequent tendering process. This document provides background information on the proposed development with a number of questions designed to explore:

Scope of works:

LOCATION AND PREVIOUS USE

The Highways site was a cluster of three buildings located along the A64 York Road in Leeds, now demolished. The site is owned by Leeds City Council, the blocks were built in the 1960s using a REEMA concrete panel system, demolition started in 2023 and was completed in June 2024.

The site is located approximately 2.4 miles east of Leeds city centre in the Killingbeck area, off York Road.

The site is within easy reach of the city, an 8-minute drive or 15-minute bus ride to Leeds bus station.

The site is in an ideal location, as a number of amenities are within a 5-minute walking distance, including ASDA Superstore, B&M, McDonalds, and B&Q.

CONNECTIVITY

Being on the outskirts of the city centre, the site has excellent pedestrian and vehicular connectivity. From the site, most of the city's key shopping, entertainment, education, and business areas are within a short distance. The site is an 8-minute drive to the M1, 9 minutes to M621 and 14 minutes to the M62, proving to be a great commuter location with easy motorway links.

In addition to vehicular links the site has excellent public transport connections to the city centre and wider region with direct buses as far as Whitby, Malton, and Harrogate. There are also nearby train stations, both in Leeds city centre and in nearby Cross Gates.

The new development provides an opportunity to provide high quality, modern, affordable housing in a highly sustainable and well connected site due to its positive location.

The site sits in a wider context of Killingbeck close to Osmondthorpe and Gipton and is located in a residential area predominantly made up of low rise semi-detached and terrace houses with the occasional medium/high rise on the edges of the urban settlements.

In recent years, the area just north-east of the site around the Seacroft hospital area has undergone an expansion and redevelopment with many new homes delivered

SITE HISTORY

The three blocks consisted of 2No. ten storey tower blocks each made up of 60 flats consisting of 30No. 1 bed and 30No. 2 bed apartments. The smaller four storey block contained 12No. 3-bedroom maisonettes.

The redevelopment of the site intends to deliver a sustainable 100% affordable housing, while achieving a net density increase.

During RIBA stage 2 a design proposal for two buildings containing 235 units has been developed to reflect the client brief and LA planning requirements, and to enable potential partners/contractors to assess their interest in helping the Council to deliver this flagship scheme as part of its programme of direct delivery council housing.

GENERAL REQUIREMENTS

Dwelling Type Flats

Dwelling numbers Net increase on previous provision of 132

Units Dwelling mix 60% 1 Bed 35% 2 Bed 5% 3 Bed (minimum 12 units) *

Building scale Maximum 16 storeys

Accessible housing mix 2% M (4)3 30% M (4)2 68% M (4)1

Spatial requirements NDSS compliant

Affordable provision 100% Affordable and 100% social rent

Interested parties are requested to submit a market sounding document to demonstrate experience of comparable developments. Please contact Samantha.dean@leeds.gov.uk to obtain a market sounding document. Deadline for submissions 17/1/25