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Student tower scheme lined up for Leeds site

Source: https://www.insidermedia.com/news/yorkshire/skyscraper-student-scheme-lined-up-for-leeds-site

Emerging plans have been revealed for a student accommodation scheme at and around the Merrion Centre in Leeds which could include a 35-storey lower.Town Centre Securities plc (TCS) has filed pre-application presentation documents relating to the construction of a tower building at 100 Merrion Centre alongside the conversion and extension of Wade House.The emerging proposals seek to demolish the existing cinema and retail units at ground floor level, to construct the tower block while Wade House would be converted and extended through the addition of three storeys.Both blocks would be linked at ground floor by a new entrance lobby.There would be 796 student bed spaces in the new tower, including 186 studios and 610 clusters bed spaces, with 280 student bed spaces in the extended Wade House in the form of 56 studios and 224 cluster bed spaces.Almost 12,000 sq ft of communal internal amenity space will be provided for residentsAt ground floor level about 10,500 sq ft of retail floorspace would be given over for student amenity as well as access to a new courtyard.”Over the last decade TCS has invested heavily in the phased redevelopment and refurbishment of the Merrion Centre, transforming it into a vibrant, relevant, mixed-use destination,” a TCS spokesperson said.”Following the completion of recent projects including Merrion House, a new ibis Styles Hotel, refurbishment of the 1,000 space CitiPark car park and the successful attraction of a whole host of new retail and leisure brands, we are looking ahead to future plans for the estate.”The spokesperson added: “Working closely with Leeds City Council we have been exploring the re-invention of Wade House and re-imagining of the previously consented new build office on the site of the former cinema (100MC) through a collaborative pre-application process.”We are pleased to be presenting our thoughts to gauge members’ views so we that can further develop our thinking and design before bringing forward a full planning application over the coming months.”A presentation will be given to members of Leeds City Council’s planning committee next week.