Leeds Metropolitan University’s striking new facility, Broadcasting Place, comprises two key elements; 12,200m2 of CAT A BCO office space spread over two blocks that has been adapted to suit the tenants’ requirements to convert it to university teaching space for the Arts and Technology faculty, and a 23-storey residential tower for students with a dramatic, saw-tooth cantilevered façade overlooking the city centre.
All the buildings are clad with Cor-Ten and ribbon glazing over the full height to give a unique façade which addresses the historic buildings adjacent to the development.
The complex challenges inherent in the site’s design and development included:
- considerable underlying mining hazards including a 20m deep mineshaft
- a site hemmed in on two sides by the inner ring road, creating 12m tall retaining walls that required innovative foundations solutions to prevent lateral surcharging
- The need for co-ordination with the two bridge abutments when planning the layout of the site to ensure that a safe and economical solution could be delivered.
As the student accommodation is located at the prow of a hill overlooking Leeds city centre, its behaviour and response to wind is critical, especially given the severity of the saw tooth façade which has the capacity to create strong wind eddies. To overcome the significant lateral loadings, and to control accelerations at the top of the building, early engagement with the building services engineer and the bathroom pod manufacturer led to the successful development of a solution that allowed the lateral shear walls to be fully connected. This increased the lateral resistance of the building by 712%, reducing the size of the structural walls and significantly reducing the overturning forces at the foundation level which is in close proximity to the ring road retaining wall. The building’s concrete frame is exposed, to provide thermal mass to reduce the energy consumption due to heating and cooling. Consequently, the quality of the concrete finish is of significance.
The quantity of materials in the floor structure was economised by adopting a post tensioned floor structure and encouraging the careful selection and integration of recycled aggregates and cements. The design minimised the size and depth of foundations by adopting smaller fewer piles and shallow foundations through the reduction of structural mass and increased lateral stiffness of the tower.
The iconic building, with its unusual, angular shape and ‘rusty’ exterior of naturally corroded steel that captures the essence of Yorkshire’s rugged landscape, is a true product of its urban environment – connecting the new with the old. Described as “humble”, “economical” and “environmental”, Broadcasting Place greatly impacts the university campus and the skyline of Leeds.