Consultation for flagship hotel at Victoria Leeds

Consultation on flagship hotel for Victoria Leeds – Hammerson, which owns and manages Victoria Leeds, has held a public exhibition to present its plans for a new flagship hotel. The redevelopment of the 1,670 sq m site is the next step in enhancing the retail and leisure offer at Victoria Leeds and the continued regeneration of this part of the City Centre. The proposed Victoria Gate hotel would sit adjacent to Victoria Gate in Leeds City Centre and regenerate the existing temporary surface car park between the Victoria Gate multi-storey car park and St Peter’s Street (A61).  Designed by architects Acme, who delivered Victoria Gate, the façade takes inspiration from the surrounding architecture and the city’s rich merchandising and textile history. The hotel will feature 205 spacious rooms, an on-site gym and conferencing facilities.  A new contemporary bar and restaurant on the ground floor will welcome both guests and visitors to the City’s Cultural Quarter. We anticipate that this scheme would support up to approximately 980 construction jobs over the life of the project with the hotel supporting 50 full-time jobs on completion.   The public consultation was held in Victoria Gate, Saturday 14 September 12noon – 6pm.  Leeds residents were able to view the plans, meet the team and give their feedback with the aim of shaping the vibrant addition to the city centre.  The feedback was very positive with over 90% supporting the scheme. Martin Hamilton, Director of Leeds Civic Trust says “Leeds Civic Trust is pleased to lend its support to these proposals for the Victoria Hotel, which has the potential to deliver a unique building at a key location in the city centre.  After conversations with the Hammerson project team, we believe the scheme’s height, design and materials complement the existing parts of Victoria Gate and that the hotel will be a welcome addition to city centre.”  The story so far  Victoria Quarter and Victoria Gate form part of Hammerson’s Victoria Leeds shopping and leisure destination, which houses a range of designer and aspirational retail and dining brands. Opened by Hammerson in October 2016, Victoria Gate is a modern take on Victorian arcades, and complements the adjacent listed restored Grade II* Listed arcades of Victoria Quarter. Anchored by Harvey Nichols and John Lewis’s first store in the city, the arcades are also home to a range of premium brands including Anthropologie, Joules, Aspinal of London and international restaurant group D&D’s, Issho and East 59th. Victoria Leeds • 56,300 sq m of premium retail and dining space • An annual footfall of 14.4m (2018) • 92 premium retail and leisure tenants • 1,600 jobs Continuing our investment in Leeds Leeds is one of the fastest-growing cities in the UK with an exciting mix of historic architecture, contemporary spaces and world-class culture. These plans for the Victoria Gate Hotel form the next step in our wider regeneration plans for the East of Leeds City Centre, creating a mixed-use destination for people to enjoy. The proposals look to bring people into the heart of the city to enjoy the culture, shops, restaurants, cafes, bars and leisure, bringing additional spend into the local economy. The Victoria Gate Hotel will sit on the edge of Leeds’ vibrant Cultural Quarter. When completed, the hotel will support around 50 full time equivalent jobs. About Hammerson Hammerson create vibrant, continually evolving spaces, in and around thriving cities across Europe. Hammerson own and manage Victoria Leeds which is one of the group’s flagships destinations along with Bullring, Birmingham; Brent Cross, London and investments in 20 premium outlet villages including Bicester Village, through our partnership with Value Retail. Last year, Hammerson launched its City Quarters concept, which looks to create vibrant mixed-use neighbourhoods surrounding its flagship destinations, in thriving locations in the UK and Ireland. This will see us transform many of our city venues beyond pure retail into successful neighbourhoods providing accessible public space, houses and workspace. The Victoria Gate Hotel is one of the first schemes Hammerson is bringing forward as part of its new City Quarters concept. Proposals The proposed Victoria Gate Hotel would sit adjacent to Victoria Gate in Leeds City Centre and regenerate the land between the Victoria Gate multi-storey car park and the A61, a site currently used as a temporary car park. Designed by architects Acme, who designed Victoria Gate, the façade also takes inspiration from the surrounding architecture and the city’s rich merchandising and textile history. The Victoria Gate Hotel will feature 205 spacious rooms, and an on-site gym for guests and conferencing facilities. A new contemporary bar and restaurant will be located on the ground floor for both guests and visitors to the city’s Cultural Quarter. At 15 storeys (58 meters tall), the Victoria Gate Hotel has been designed to sit alongside other landmark buildings in Leeds City Centre. To the east of the site are two approved planning applications for up to 15 and 17-storeys within Quarry Hill, up to 40 storeys approved on Bridge Street to the north of the site and the Skyline Apartment building which is 16-storeys to the north west of the site. Towards the First Direct Arena there are also a number of developments over 20-storeys in height. A digital screen will be situated on the northern elevation, 14 meters from the ground. It will span from a little below level 3 up to level 5. Transport and Connectivity The proposed hotel is well located for guests and visitors arriving by car, public transport, by bicycle or on foot. The proposed hotel will be located: • Directly adjacent to the Victoria Gate multi-storey car park which has 753 car parking spaces, 52 of which are disabled spaces; • Directly adjacent to Leeds City bus station; • An 11 minute walk from Leeds Railway Station. The plans also include provision of 26 bicycle storage spaces. Given its proximity to the city’s transport links we expect the majority of hotel guests to travel via public transport. For those hotel guests who do drive, overnight parking will be available in the adjacent multi-storey car park which is typically at low capacity overnight. We will therefore not be proposing any additional car parking spaces for the hotel. Victoria Gate Hotel will have its own dedicated vehicle access for taxis and deliveries which will be from Dyer Street. A new walkway will also be created between the Victoria Gate multi-storey car park and the proposed hotel, linking George Street to Eastgate. Sustainability In 2017, Hammerson became the first real estate company in the world to launch a comprehensive Net Positive strategy covering both environmental and socio-economic impacts. Hammerson’s objective is to be Net Positive in four areas where we have the greatest material impact – carbon, resource use, water use and socio-economic impacts. We are designing to the highest industry environmental standards reflecting our Net Positive targets and using the following environmental initiatives in our plans for Victoria Gate Hotel: • Low carbon design to minimise contribution to climate change • Minimising water demand • Specifying resource & carbon efficient materials • BREEAM and other industry best practice Next Steps Thank you for reading. We will be looking to submit a planning application shortly. If you have any questions about the plans, please do get in touch: Email: info@hammerson.com