Client Carillion Developments
Location Leeds, UK
Status On the boards
Jestico + Whiles won a developer-led competition with Carillion Developments for Tower Works, a key development site within the redevelopment of Leeds South Bank area. The Grade II listed Engine House sits at the heart of this development.
Built in 1899 to a design thought to be by William Bakewell, The Engine House complex once accommodated the site’s power house. Victorian industrialists often celebrated such machinery and the building retains splendid historic features such as a partial mosaic floor, glazed white Burmantofts brickwork walls and a series of ten plaques ‘medallions’ displaying portraits of notable Victorian industrialists, including Tower Works’ owner and Leeds philanthropist mayor Thomas Harding himself.
Jestico + Whiles’ scheme restores these key features and repurposes the building as a leisure destination at the heart of the Tower Works development.
The proposals include a microbrewery and bar located on the ground floor, an art house cinema on the upper floor, and a spectacular restaurant within the double-height engine room itself, where the bas relief of Harding will gaze down on diners below. The building will be provided with a new contemporary entrance with glazed doors that will fully open to allow al fresco seating and events during warmer months.
The Engine House opens onto the masterplan’s new public piazza, the centrepiece of the Tower Works development, and will be a celebration to the site’s heritage along the new pedestrian routes which will connect Globe Road to the canal.
