SDA 2022 Entries

• Landscape + Public Realm - The space around, between and within buildings that is publicly accessible, including streets, squares, parks and open spaces. These areas and settings support or facilitate public life and social interaction. 

THE SITE
The site in 2017 when CITU purchased the land. CITU made a commitment at the outset that they will only ever
refurbish buildings or work with brownfield land. They purchased the site in 2017 and set about developing a masterplan for this area of Leeds.

MASTERPLAN CONTEXT & THIS SUBMISSION
The initial masterplan relied heavily on vehicular roads and the 'traditional' model of housing development - properties accessible by car and serviced by block paved roads.

Layer.studio were appointed to developed the entire masterplan to RIBA Stage 03 and to deliver the Phase 1 Landscape to enable the first residents to move in.

The brief was only a single side of A4 but contained a very powerful message.

Climate Change is the biggest threat facing our generation and we have the opportunity demonstrate that housing - and construction - can more than play its part in mitigating and adapting for the inevitable changes that are on the horizon.

Pioneering work comes at a cost. We were to design a landscape that not only performed the basic requirements for a housing development but one that minimised embodied carbon, creating a framework of streets and spaces that would enable the community to thrive and to be delivered on the tightest £/m2 budget for any project we have ever worked on.

We - like CITU - had to change the way we work. We had to evolve the way we think, the way we draw, the way we communicate and the way we design to develop our most cost effective and sustainable proposals to date. Understanding the embodied carbon of products, where they were being sourced, how we would recycle them at the end of the project - this is back before anyone had heard of the term Net Zero Carbon!

MODERN METHODS OF CONSTRUCTION (& DESIGN)
A requirement of the brief was to work in 3D. We utilised 3D software in the studio and the collaboration with Civic Engineers was seamless. We were importing models and designing our landscape to suit. Of course, how this manifests on site is another story in itself!

Our early models for the landscape bridge abutments allowed the Client to not only visualise the proposals, but to enable them to calculate the stone required to fill the gabion baskets and to understand the carbon required to get that volume of stone to the centre of Leeds. This kind of joined up thinking hadn't been done before (to our knowledge) in the private sector before.

The rain gardens, suds features and natural attenuation features were disliked by the local flood authority because it was unproven technology.

The engineers were nervous about running service vehicles over a reinforced grass 'street'.

The 'green street' at the Climate Innovation District was unfavoured to by the local highways authority because it wasn't hard paved and was made up of a reinforced plastic grid system (made from recycled and recyclable) plastic. It is a structural solution, capable of taking HGVs) but is 96% void and the prevalent material on the surface is a sand based growing medium and grass!

COMMITMENT TO SUSTAINABILITY
The Climate Innovation District is the project that rewrote the rule book for City Centre living. It proved that brownfield regeneration can work. It proved that projects don't require vast budgets to be
attractive. What's required is care and attention, collaboration and a Client who's willing to say 'no' to the normal and drive forward innovation.

The inherent sustainable features at the CID are the real champions of this project. Subtle design cues, delivered on a modest budget , demonstrate that sustainable housing can be successfully delivered in 2021 - we just need the profession to drive forward the quality of design.

We've never had a Client who's said they don't care about the rules quite as much as CITU. The obvious removal of vehicles from the common landscape spaces was a bold but fundamental move.
It's created a series of spaces that are 99% garden, 1% vehicular thoroughfare. It's enabled residents to make the space their own. Working hand in hard with Claude they've created some truly sustainable, edible spaces that are continually evolving and get better year after year.
The next phase of development will see the construction of an Otter Holt on the northern river bank to provide a home to the local family of otters who are frequently seen on the river.
The Climate Innovation District is a different way of doing development. It's not just an exemplar scheme - it's a pioneer in landscape led masterplanning and delivery and should be shouted from the rooftops!

CLAUDE YEARWOOD
Claude has been one of the stand out stars of the Climate Innovation District journey. Claude grew up farming and gardening in the Caribbean before turning his passion into successful business 'Ras Roots' Gardening Services in Leeds where he was employed by CITU's Managing Director, Chris. Chris loved Claude's infectious enthusiasm for all things and suggested he be part of the team at the Climate Innovation District. Fast forward 2 years and Claude has been gardener, curator, installer, constructor and maintainer of the landscape and gardens at CID. He was worked with the team at Layer.studio to in uence the plans based on his knowledge. He grows most of the plants from seed and harvests the seed pods at the end of the season to grow for future phases of the development. This is sustainability at its finest.