Bridgewater Place

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Bridgewater Place
Information
Location Leeds, England
Coordinates 53°47′31″N 1°32′52″W / 53.7920, -1.5479Coordinates: 53°47′31″N 1°32′52″W / 53.7920, -1.5479
Status Complete
Roof 110 metres (361 ft)
Technical details
Floor count 32
Floor area 40,000 square metres (430,560 sq ft)
Companies
Architect Aedas
Contractor Bovis Lend Lease
Developer KW Linfoot


Bridgewater Place is an office and residential development in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is the tallest building in Leeds and the tallest building in Yorkshire, and has held this record since being topped out in September 2005. It is visible at up to 25 miles (40 km) from certain areas.

The development has been designed by Aedas Architects with the developer being Landmark Development Projects and St James Securities with Bovis Lend Lease being the contractor. The developer of the residential element of Bridgewater Place is KW Linfoot.

It was first announced in 2000 and, following several redesigns and delays with the construction process, construction of the building began in 2004 and was completed in 2007. It became the tallest building in Leeds, by a significant margin, and Yorkshire (although this does not take into account structures such as Emley Moor). Bridgewater Place has a height of 110 metres or 360 feet (110 m) to roof level. Originally the tower was to have had a spire which would have extended the height of the building to 137 metres or 449 feet (137 m), however this was never built for unknown reasons.

Bridgewater Place has 32 storeys, of which two are used for car parking, ten for offices and twenty for residential purposes. There will be 40,000 square metres / 430,560 square feet of floor space in the building and there will be 200 flats and 400 car parking spaces. Office tenants will include Eversheds and Ernst & Young.

The atrium of Bridgewater Place hosts the 17.5 metre column sculpture called 'Hello Friends' by artists Bryan Davies and Laura Davies, which is tallest sculpture in Yorkshire. Created as a reinterpretation of Constantin Brancusi's Endless Coumn from Târgu Jiu, Romania 50 years after the artist death, it houses illuminated photographs showing a science fiction narrative.

The major part of the building's construction was completed by late December 2006, judging by the fact that the tower crane was being removed on 19 and 20 December. The completion of the entire building was commemorated on Thursday 26 April 2007. A special episode of Look North, the BBC's local regional news programme was produced to commemorate the opening of the tower. The tower is illuminated at night with bright coloured lighting effects, colours used so far include blue and purple.

The building's shape appears to be acting like an aircraft wing, accelerating winds in its immediate vicinity to the extent that pedestrians have experienced severe difficulties walking past it during the winter storms of 2008.

Bridgewater Place at night in October 2007

Side view of the Bridgewater Place development under construction

Height of Bridgewater Place compared to the height of other existing and approved tall buildings in Leeds

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[edit] External links


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