The Building
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 112 metres (367 ft) to roof level. Originally the tower was to have a spire which would have extended the height of the building to 137 metres (449 ft), however this was never built.
Bridgewater Place has 32 storeys, of which two are used for car parking, ten for offices and twenty for residential purposes. There is 40,000 square metres / 430,560 square feet of floor space in the building with 200 flats and 400 underground car parking spaces serving both the residential and commercial areas of the building.
Current office tenants include Eversheds, Ernst & Young, ghd, BDO Stoy Hayward and DWF LLP. Retail tenants include Tesco, Starbucks, Casa Mia, Panini Shack and Philpotts. The residential element of the development has proved to be one of the most prestige city centre addresses.
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 Brâncuşi's Endless Column from Târgu Jiu, Romania 50 years after the artist's death, it houses illuminated photographs showing a science fiction narrative.
The major part of the building's construction was completed by late December 2006. 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 accelerating winds in its immediate vicinity to the extent that pedestrians have experienced severe difficulties walking past. These winds have led to some of the entrances to the building being closed for safety reasons. To rectify these issues in the design may require the addition of 'vertical fins' to the facade of the building.
Read more about this topic: Bridgewater Place
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