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Holbeck Urban Village - www.holbeckurbanvillage.co.uk

The Holbeck Urban Village is a major regeneration project just south of Leeds city centre, which is transforming a formerly rundown industrial area. The long term vision for the area is the creation of a thriving new business community with a focus on creative and digital industry.

With high levels of mixed-use development taking place in and around Holbeck Urban Village, new office accommodation is already coming onto the market. Over the next ten years a total of 2 million sq ft of office space is expected to be generated.

Holbeck Urban Village aims to sustain a variety of creative and digital media businesses from start-ups and SMEs to established global brands such as Orange telecommunications. A fantastic start has been made with the award-winning Round Foundry Media Centre offering a hothouse environment to companies such as Rockliffe, Leeds Media and New Media Collective.

There are a number of developments within this regeneration area, including the Round Foundry, Marshall's Mill, Tower Works and Temple Works. To visit the Holbeck Urban Village website, click here.

Round Foundry

Claimed to be, "the earliest surviving engineering works in the world", during the Industrial Revolution the Round Foundry exported textile machinery, steam engines and locomotives worldwide.

The Round Foundry was created in 1795 by a partnership of John Marshall, Mathew Murray, Fenton and Wood. It was with this foundry that Mathew Murray made his name with the production of textile machinery, steam engines and locomotives which he exported worldwide. The Round Foundry developed to become one of the world's first specialist engineering foundries.

The first phase of the £30 million redevelopment of this groundbreaking foundry includes the award-winning Round Foundry Media Centre, which provides fully serviced office space for creative and digital media companies. The development, by CTP St James, also includes a number of restaurants, cafés and bars set around a series of courtyards that retain as much of the old character of the foundry as possible.

Completed in 2004, Phase I of the redevelopment has won numerous awards and accolades including: 'Best Creative Land Use' and 'Best Urban Centre', Yorkshire Urban Renaissance Awards 2005; 'Project of the Year', RICS Regeneration Awards 2005; 'Excellence in Architecture and Built Environment' and 'Best Commercial, Industrial and Retail', RIBA Yorkshire White Rose Awards 2005.

Work has already begun on Phase II and Phase III of this development that has seven listed buildings in total. Phase II is expected to be complete as early as 2007 and may include a larger extension of the acclaimed media centre.

Marshall's Mill

Marshall's Mill was the brain child of John Marshall who revolutionised industry, harnessing water power from the near by Hol Beck to mass produce linen.

Built in 1791-2 on Water Lane, Marshall's Mill was a six storey water-powered mill employing over 2,000 workers. Using water drawn from the nearby Hol Beck, Marshall was able to create enough steam to power almost 7,000 spindles, which only a generation earlier would have been driven by hand in Yorkshire's rural cottage industries.

Marshall's Mill underwent redevelopment in the mid-1990's before the boundary of Holbeck Urban Village was established. It is now a modern development of offices within a Grade II* listed building and home to companies such as Orange telecommunications and full service marketing company, 'an agency called england'.

Igloo Regeneration have taken over the site with plans for a development that will combine leisure, business and residential accommodation organised around a network of streets and squares. The plans submitted also include the construction of seven new buildings to complement the existing listed structure.

Tower Works

Colonel Thomas Harding's Italianate towers form a distinctive landmark on the Leeds skyline. The design of the factory was heavily influenced by his love for Italian architecture and art.

The most notable features of Tower Works are the three towers that give it its name and served as chimneys for the factory. The largest and most ornate tower is based on the iconic Giotto campanile (bell tower) in Florence. The smaller ornate tower is based on the Lamberti Tower in Verona. A third plain tower, built as part of Harding's final phase of expansion in 1919, is thought to represent a Tuscan tower house. All three are listed structures, the two ornate towers being Grade II * and the plain tower Grade II.

Today the site that, for most people, epitomises Holbeck Urban Village and the industrial revolution in Leeds, stands empty. The site was acquired by Yorkshire Forward in May 2005 and is set to become a flagship development for the area. Plans for a lighting installation, to illuminate the towers by night, have been developed as part of a public arts strategy for the area.

Temple Works

John Marshall's thirst for innovation did not stop at Marshall's Mill, he went on to create the magnificent Temple Works as an extension to his previous accomplishments.

Sitting adjacent to Marshall's Mill, Temple Works is based on the Temple of Edfu at Horus, with a chimney designed in the style of an obelisk and its facade reflecting Marshall's ardent interest in Egyptology. When the building was first created it was said to be the "largest single room in the world". Alongside this feat of construction, Temple Works employed the latest technology including ducts beneath the floor providing air conditioning and housing the power supply for the machinery in the linen weaving sheds above. Sheep also grazed on a roof covered in grass to retain humidity and prevent the linen thread from drying out and becoming unmanageable.

Temple Works in the only Grade I listed building within the Holbeck Urban Village boundary. It is currently owned by Reality, a mail order and distribution company. A recent arts commission by Antonia Stowe, has seen the sheep reappear, in the form of a sculpture overlooking Temple Works from Marshall's Mill.

Plans have been submitted by SJS Property Management for the site to become a cultural and retail facility, including space for exhibitions and a new style of retail outlet. The revolutionary plans may even see the grass put back on the famous roof!

For more information about Holbeck Urban Village, click here.