Last night the great and the good of the Leeds architecture community came out in force to celebrate the 2011 Leeds Architecture Awards. The awards, run by Leeds Council, were appropriately held in Leeds Town Hall, one of Leeds’ fine examples of architecture and unanimously loved by the people of the city. The evening followed the expected format of welcome drinks, meal & awards presentation.
For me, not being associated with any project in line for an award, probably the most interesting part of the evening was the speech from celebrated Architect and guest assessor John Lyall. A talented designer and engaging man John worked on the original regeneration of the Corn Exchange and White Cloth Hall in the mid 1980’s. John made several interesting points not least that regeneration takes time. When they started on the Corn Exchange it was an area that was avoided in the city and many years on it is clear to see that their vision has flourished. Maybe we should be patient with other areas of the city just starting out on this journey.
One interesting fact I found out last night; the roof of the Corn Exchange is not actually attached to the walls in any way! It is purposely left separate just sat on them to allow for expansion / contraction, you wouldn’t get away with that now but it has worked well for about 150 years so why change it.
Anyway back to the awards. There were five categories: New Building, Altered Building, Conserved Building, Landscape and Temporary Works. The short list in each ranged from 2 to 6, giving a total of 22 buildings eagerly awaiting the results. It was good to see a real range of projects from the very small of the Creature Armrests on Albion Street, to the very large of Moss Carr Restored Surface Mine at Methley.
The majority of the nominees shouldn’t have been too worried whether or not they would win. Out of the 22 schemes, 19 of them won Commendations or were “Winners”. This I found a little strange and felt sorry for the 3 who didn’t win and get to take to the stage with Rule The World by Take That playing.
I was pleased to see a personal favourite of mine, The Northern Ballet, as one of the winners in the new building category and the City Varieties win in the conserved building category. However I couldn’t help but think that overall the short list was not particularly spectacular, but I guess that is the sign of the current financial climate.
The judging panel was made up of various respected industry professional who clearly know their architecture. They evaluated the schemes on aspects such as lasting qualities, fit for purpose, appearance, and relationship to setting. I do wonder though that if the winners were chosen by the general public would we get the same results. For me architecture is not just for the “educated” few but for everyone who interacts with the buildings from small children through to the OAPs. I would love to see an award in the future that is the public’s choice and see what results that brings.
In my opinion, as a very brief view of the state of architecture in Leeds. I’d say we have some great building, in particular older ones. We also have some shining jewels of new buildings but there are a lot of average ones too. We have the potential for great things but for one reason or another we seem to fall short missing great opportunities a bit too often.
For further information on the awards and the shortlisted schemes please take a look at the Leeds Architecture Awards website. Below is a list of the winners on the evening:
New Buildings
Candle House – Winner
Compton Centre – Commendation
Lady Elizabeth Hasting C of E Primary School – Commendation
Northern Ballet – Winner
Waterman’s Place – Winner
Flint Mill Museum
Conserved Buildings
City Varieties Music Hall – Winner
LATCH ‘Hands On Workshop’ – Winner
St Chad’s Church – Commendation
Left Bank Leeds – Special Mention Award
Altered Buildings
Compton Centre
Greenhouse – Winner
St George’s Crypt – Winner
Town Centre House
Landscape (including Public Art and Public Realm)
Back to Front Garden Project – Commendation
Compton Centre – Commendation
Creature Armrest – Commendation
Moss Carr restored surface mine – Winner
St George’s Crypt – Winner
Holbeck Green Corridors – Winner
Temporary Works
Holbeck Green Corridors, Runswicks – Winner
Holbeck Green Corridors ,Viaduct – Winner
Photographs above kindly provided by Roger V Moody Photographers
The Corn Exchange was “avoided in the city?” . . . erm, by whom exactly?
Their “vision has flourished?” . . . maybe I just haven’t been invited into this parallel universe . . .
I was a bit young in the early / mid 80’s to have a personal appreciation of it but we were told last night that in a post Yorkshire Ripper period the area was avoided by most (maybe it was over exaggerated?)
I think the area is successful, it may not be to everyones taste but the Corn Exchange looks fantastic and the bars & restaurants surrounding are popular with many.
That whole area was run down around 15years ago. Whilst its difficult to credit one building for making a change the surrounding area including call lane are much more welcoming now so its played a significant part.
The Corn Exchange sums up this city’s lack of vision. It is woefully underused and full of bland options…can you imagine any other city letting such a landmark shopping outlet be such a boring waste of space (in every sense).
I think Call Lane would have happened anyway and I don’t real see how it is connected to the Corn Exchange. the footfall will be very different. Cheap rents and/or vision tend to drive indie bar culture.
In fact the area to the rear of the Corn Exchange (where the Townhouse or China White’s as it is now) was livelier than it is now 15 years ago. It’s actually gone backwards with lots of empty units for the past few years.
The Calls was buzzing before that time too with Norman’s leading the way and not, as suggested, as a result of the Corn Exchange refurbishment. There’s no denying the Corn Exchange is a landmark building and the renovation was superbly done but it’s taken years to get the units filled other than Anthony’s – this has had a detrimental effect on the rest of the area.
One final thing – the ‘post ripper period’ is nearly 30 years ago – when in fact most of the city centre was nigh on a no-go zone not just the Call Lane area.
I am delighted Waterman’s Place has won this award. I was the design architect for the the building when I was a partner at CZWG Architects LLP. Since I have left to start a new practice, I have been following the progress of the scheme, and watching it win awards. It is a fine scheme from a fine team. I only wish I could have been there to witness it’s win.
Andrew Daws
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