David Campbell introduced us to the site in early 2019 and it was an exciting opportunity in a fairly run down area of Leeds. It had a lot of potential, we could see that from conversations onsite, walking around with David. It had some challenges, not least that it was in the flood plain, with Sheepscar Beck north of the site, busy roads all around, and a Yorkshire Water surface water main sewer bisecting the site! We started with some of the sketches just to see the potential for the site and it began to shape up and look good.
It’s a relatively narrow site and so to achieve the kind of densities that we know Alumno require to make it viable, it was all about maximising the perimeter and the outlook. You can see that’s what the design does – it skirts the back of the pavement it you like, around the west, along the south down Whitelock Street which is the primary frontage looking back towards the city. Then it wraps around at an acute angle which is very dramatic, the kind of prow of the site as I refer to it, then it runs down the eastern flank. That created some neat, compact, efficient courtyards on the northern side, backing onto Sheepscar Beck.
We commenced early engagement with Leeds City Council. We have built up an excellent relationship with the council and planning department through all this. We developed a good rapport with Chris Briggs, the case officer, and a high level of trust. The design officer liked the initial sketches, thought they were great, however he felt that the height of the building was perhaps a challenge in that location, but we stuck with it. Our instincts were right, and we got the full support of the planning officers. I put that down to when the concept is right people warm to that, and how you present it is also critical. Those initial freehand sketches keep it loose, get people to engage with it at that early concept stage, and then it can evolve from there.
As we started to immerse ourselves into the historical context of the area, we got these great resonant stories coming through about the Burmantofts Pottery. To the west of the site, it’s called Clay Pit Lane, where they used to extract the clay for making bricks and pottery. They also discovered coal when they started digging for the clay. So, there’s a real kind of gutsy feel to the area!
Leeds is a predominately brick city. When there was some regeneration going on in the 1980s and 1990s it got a bit of a reputation for a lot of brick be-
Leeds The Terry Frost Building
ing used, but in a very traditional pastiche kind of way. Originally, we planned two brick colours, but we introduced a third colour to further punctuate the long facade on Whitelock Street. We wanted to do something sharp, very contemporary, but using the predominance of brick, which gives echoes and reflections of the industrial character, and the stories of what’s behind the area. I think we’ve achieved that, and what’s nice is you can see that the early sketches have really flowed through. There has been no dilution to that kind of hard-edged feel that we wanted both externally and internally. In the public areas, on the ground floor, it’s very gutsy – there’s exposed concrete, polished concrete floors and columns. A real urban feel to it with exposed ventilation ducts, pipes, and visible wires. It’s a building which kind of reveals its innards to the users.
There were great intentions, as always with Alumno schemes, to involve local artists, poets, and pottery workers, and in this case particularly to recognise Sir Terry Frost. That connection being not just in the name of the building, which is prominent in various places, but also with expressions of his work within the entrance foyer. There’s the double height space with a bespoke piece of one of his very strong, colourful compositions, which was a painting but it’s now kind of in 3D relief.
That fed into how other artists were brought on board. There’s an artist who produced various clay sculptures which are on display both within the building and in the garden to the north of the building. There’s poetry on the south-facing glazing into the public foyer area. The signage that we worked on with Andy Stevens and Graphic Thought Facility. That’s worked in harmony very well with the building. It’s a fantastic multi-faceted endeavour, it always is with Alumno. They’re great people to work with. David especially because his enthusiasm for the arts comes through, and for regeneration of an area – it’s always about revitalising areas.
It was a site which was on the edge, in more ways than one, of the city. I think what we’ve been able to do is completely revitalise the site and transform it in many ways. It’s going to be a catalyst for the regeneration of the whole area. Yet, it’s a short distance if you walk up the hill to quite a vibrant part of Leeds which seems to be on the up as well.
It was one of those opportunities where the architecture really resonated with the area, perhaps more than other schemes we’ve done for David. I felt this one was honest and didn’t turn its back on the beck. These becks are almost like a thread which runs through the city. It’s a real feature of that part of Leeds. Of course, on the north we’ve maximised the connectivity to that as well. However, there are also the views back off the roof terrace. The
ground is falling west to east and the building steps down in response to that. That movement of cascading the masses from seven storeys down to six was something that the council particularly wanted. I think it really works for the roof terrace; it opens up and delivers these stunning views.
It’s a generous roof terrace enclosed by a sharp glass balustrade. It provides students with somewhere they can study outside. They’re presented with a panoramic view back to Leeds city which helps to orient students as well. That’s a key thing – they’re in good walking distance of all the things students would want to get to: the city centre, the university campuses, the music school, the medical school, and Jimmy’s which is the name for St James Hospital to the east. It ticks all the boxes!
The rooms are generously proportioned for the type of building and quite varied. We’ve got traditional clusters where students have their own bed- room and en-suite shower, and they share a communal kitchen, living and dining area. The geography of the site meant that we’ve been able to create some smaller units – four beds – right the way up to eight or nine. We’ve also got a whole variety of self-contained studios in there with a real mix of different sizes, orientations, and layouts. It’s not a site where one standard fits all; we’ve had to be quite creative particularly around the hubs where the stair cores and the lifts are.
We also showed the demand, as at a few weeks before handover there were only 18 left out of 411 rooms. A bit of a first for Alumno, and Student Living who let the rooms. So, that tells me it’s an attractive location.
One of the features I particularly like, which works really well on the south-facing rooms, is that we have incorporated within the windows these external louvres – brise-soleil – which gives it a European continental feel. Every room has a full height window which allows maximum daylight into the room. It helps the rooms feel more spacious, more generous, when you get that daylight casting patterns across the floor.
Then the louvres provide that bit of solar shading and privacy, yet it still allows the students to open a full height glass window and get some air movement in there as well. I mean it’s all mechanically ventilated with heat recovery, so you don’t need to do that, I just think there’s a level of control that people want. People want to be able to open a window – no matter how good the ventilation system is.
A question that comes up at planning stage with many city councils, and it did with Leeds, is the potential for change of use. If the future needs of
Leeds change the building can certainly adapt to meet that demand. A reinforced concrete frame is the primary structural solution and then many of the walls to create the individual rooms within the apartments are lightweight stud partitions. There is that degree of flexibility, that walls could be taken out, replaced, or remodelled.
It’s a green building. It’s hit all the targets that Leeds City Council wanted in terms of energy generation on site with a 20% reduction on the current building regs. It’s a BREEAM Excellent rated building as well. That takes some doing because that scores a myriad of aspects of the building: from waste materials on site, to energy use, to ecological value, security, you name it! It’s a difficult thing to achieve but it’s testament to Alumno’s commitment to it, and the design and construction team, and everybody involved really, right from inception to getting it handed over, to make sure all those points are picked up.
Leeds The Terry Frost Building
Accommodation Manager
I never really knew what I wanted to be when I grew up. I left high school at 16 and went to beauty school but dropped out after a year. I went out to France for a year cleaning caravans at Key Camp (now Eurocamp). When I re- turned, I began work for a big chain of hotels. I started off as a part-time cleaner and left ten years later as the Operations Manager.
Out the blue, I got a phone call from a recruitment agency seeking a property manager for student accommodation. This had never crossed my mind; I had no idea that this was a potential career choice. Lau- ra Johnson interviewed me and gave me the job. It will be four years ago in January, and I love it.
To me it’s all the best bits of hospitality without some of the issues you can have in that trade. The requirements are similar; it’s a building that needs to be run but it’s more fun. The environment is very different. I see it as being in these young people’s home, helping them create the environment, and it’s more relaxed and honest. I wouldn’t want to do anything else at the moment.
My first student accommodation property was Oxley Hall. It’s a beautiful, grade 2 listed, gothic mansion house up on the outskirts of Headingley. You would notice little things about the building that were fun like, about a year in, I realised that every railing had a different face on it. The grounds and gar- dens are huge, and you can see squirrels and foxes running around.
There were 443 beds, and all the students were first years that knew nothing about the city or living away from home. You had to kind of nurture them into how to live, how to be safe, and how to have fun, but let them be individual people. When they checked out many were so different to 12 months ago when they’d arrived with us. I did that for two years before moving on to a couple of other properties in the city.
When you come into the city it’s much more cosmopolitan. I grew up in the countryside, but I like both. I live next to a park in Harrogate, but coming into the city and seeing the life, what goes on, and all the different people is great too.
Then they said we’ve got the Terry Frost building (it was called Whitelock Street to start off with) and would you like to be the manager? The answer was yes as I thought it would be nice to have a new build (I always seem to do listed buildings) with a different mixture of students.
The construction process was fascinating. I would drive past it all the time, or walk by, and see what it was looking like. Sometimes I would go by on a Fri- day then I would drive into work on the Monday, and it would look completely different. I’d get really excited seeing it really coming along!
This building is part of the regeneration of an area that needed regenerating. While the scaffolding was still round it you couldn’t really see it properly. I re- member when they started taking it down, the first wall I saw I was like, “Ooh, look at this!” This lovely brick where the patterns really came out. The week before we opened, when the last little bits came down, it was like unwrapping a Christmas present. It was incredible to see, with beautiful signage too that really sets it all off.
The design of the building is great; it’s very modern, functions well, and it looks good. I love it and the students, all 411 of them, do too. You feel proud when you check people in here as you know there isn’t going to be anything wrong.
We also manage one up the hill, with 77 studios, called The Priory. It’s a listed building that looks like Harry Potter would live there. International students love it as they think that’s what studying in the UK looks like – everyone living in a stone castle with arch windows and ivy down the side.
When it comes to hiring the team, I always recruit from personality. I can teach you how to use or process something, but I can’t teach you personality. I think that’s what it’s all about as you are in someone’s home, and you need to relate to them. You can’t be too stiff. You need to be able to chat to them and make them feel comfortable. That way they’ll come to you if they’ve got a problem.
Sean, the maintenance guy, is originally from Sheffield. Interestingly, Sean’s Grandma grew up on the Park Hill estate that Alumno was involved in regenerating, and he remembers it from when he was growing up. I hired Sean back at Oxley Hall and he’s just kind of followed me ever since. We’re like a little double act round the city. I knew when I was coming to Terry Frost that I wanted him to come too.
I honestly couldn’t do my job without him, or the rest of the people. You can’t do it on your own; the good, warm feeling of personality about the place is from us all.
Leeds The Terry Frost Building
We came to Leeds because the UK is considered the best place in the world for contemporary dance and the Northern School of Contemporary Dance is one of the top dance schools in the UK. We met and became good friends after we arrived here. It’s lovely to have a friend on the course who is also in the same accommodation. We can enjoy the facilities, walk to the campus or the shops, and even explore the surrounding city together.
We chose Terry Frost House through an online platform for studying abroad linked to our course, and we both feel we chose well. The building is lovely and only a short walk to our school. It’s almost in between the university cam- pus and the city centre, so really quick and easy to get anywhere we want.
One of us is in an en-suite in a flat and the other is in a studio flat. Both are re- ally nice and a lot bigger than equivalent places we’ve visited, so good value for money. The staff are also really friendly and helpful, so we feel safe and well looked after. We visit each other’s flats and enjoy the differences. The shared flat has a communal space with cooking facilities and flatmates from
a mix of nationalities. They’re doing various different university courses, so it’s interesting getting to know them. The studio is big enough for one person to practice some dance, and both of our rooms are very comfortable for working on the academic aspect of our study.
It’s good to have other great spaces to dance in this building. There’s even a huge roof terrace overlooking the city and we can dance there as well, when the weather is suitable. That’s a wonderful feeling – really inspiring. It makes this building feel extra special. We feel fortunate to be here. It’s been a great base to explore Leeds, which seems like a really friendly place.
We’re not sure what the future holds, but the training at our school is of such a high standard we hope to have good opportunities in the future. Many celebrated people in the dance world have been to our school, including incredible talents like Lisa Welham who was the associate choreographer for the film ‘Barbie’.
Leeds The Terry Frost Building
BA Jazz Student Leeds
Leeds Conservatoire
So what took me all the way from Los Ange- les to Leeds. When I graduated high school in USA I didn’t really know what I wanted to do, but I knew I wanted to do something with music. Basically the thing for people who don’t know what they want to do is to go to community college – So I went to Morpark College a community college in the area and I did the music programme there. And I had a private teacher there who said I should try studying abroad – and I thought that would be such a fun idea, it would be super cool. The first place I thought of was England because I have dual citizenship, as my Mum is English.
I thought of London first but I thought London would be a bit too intense, and then I found Leeds Conservatoire – I found their audition process to be super streamlined and easy, I looked at the area which seemed super nice, it just seemed like a great pick for me. So I just decided to go ahead.
I didn’t really know anything about Leeds beforehand. but I about England and the UK as a whole. Family holidays etc. I’d been a few times. We had a big trip back in 2015, we went all around England and Scotland. Then I had another trip when my Grandad passed away back in 2019, we just came for a week for his funeral. Then I came another time a few months ago, just to come and check out the school and the area, and get a tour of the school, and now I’m living here.
I like like the vibe of the school. It’s really nice. Some of the Conservatoire students are in rooms where all conservatoire students were together in a flat, but there’s only one other conservatoire student in my flat, and he’s a Masters. Everyone else in this flat is here for other kinds of degrees. I was looking for accommodation and this place had a special offer for conservatoire students, so I thought it would maybe just be all music students in my flat and that would be kind of nice, as some of them are like that, but in a way, it’s maybe going to be interesting. Maybe I’ll come to get to know people that I wouldn’t otherwise have met, if you know what I mean, different outlooks, walks of life and whatever.
There’s one guy from Mumbai, there’s one guy from Ghana, there’s one guy from Canada – he’s the guy who’s the music student. The rest of them are from places around the UK. My room here is super comfortable, it’s great, it’s a brand new building so it feels nice and clean, to go into a brand new room – I’m like “oh I’m the first one here”.
I’m really enjoying Leeds as a place. It’s super vibrant, I always love to go out on Friday night just to see all the craziness that goes on in the streets. It’s got a similar party vibe to LA but it’s also very different. LA is just crazy all the time, In good ways, but also in really bad ways – I think the biggest reason for that is just the homelessness, there’s a massive homelessness problem in LA. It’s pretty devastating. It’s funny because I came here and I expected homelessness to be at least somewhat more, but I don’t see many homeless people on the street.
It’s like once in a while, but literally every corner you turn in LA there’s home- less people. There inequality here, but of it’s not anything like the inequality in parts of the States. That’s on a scale that’s quite hard to cope with, even if you grow up around it.
My original musical passion, was when I grew up listening to my Dad’s music, so that’s like 70’s and 80’s music, alt rock, new wave stuff, all kinds of stuff. Then I really got into a lot of internet music, so there’s a site called New Grounds that I would go on – basically it’s just like a media forum for people to post their stuff. There’s a lot of electronic music that I got into, and from then I was just really into music as a whole, especially electronic music. In middle school I joined the band programme. At the time I was playing clarinet. I thought it would be nice to get an extra edge, and I could be more invested in it. So I went through a few teachers – some of them
had to leave because they were leaving the area or they didn’t have time for me or whatever. Then I stumbled upon this one teacher, his name is Joe Kwon, and he was incredible. He’s trained in jazz, he graduated from UCLA. He’s Korean-American. He’s a great jazz player. He’s super good, he doesn’t play any more but he’s a fantastic teacher, and he’s the one that really got me into jazz. I really started to listen properly to the whole history. I really expanded my listening. You know when you have a greater understanding of the theory and the cultural history behind music, it’s just more, you get to listen to a lot more things. You know some people shy away from that because they don’t understand it, but once you understand it it’s pretty incredible.
I feel happy being in Leeds and I suppose, experiencing living in my mother’s country.
My degree course is three years. I was thinking that by the time three years is up I will make a decision about where I’ll stay. I don’t really know what I want to do after this. I could stay here to do my Masters – if I want to do a Masters – I could go back to the States because there’s a lot of great music schools in the States, but I do see working with music in some form as being my future, so I will work hard to try and achieve that.
Leeds The Terry Frost Building
MA Dramaturgy Student
Leeds Conservatoire
I decided to come to Leeds, mostly because of the course. I’d always wanted to work in the theatre and during my undergraduate degree in English at Cambridge University I learned about dramaturgy. There aren’t many places that do a dramaturgy course and here was one that looked exciting and available. Leeds was new to me. I’d never been before and didn’t know much about it. I came up for my interview for the course and was here for 24 hours.
I’ve already got a feeling that I will like Leeds as a city. You know how you sometimes walk around and get a vibe, a feel of a place? It seems like quite an exciting place. It’s not massive but there’s lots of things going on, especial- ly on the Arts side, there’s a row with the Playhouse, the Conservatoire, BBC Yorkshire, Channel 4 studios, ballet, opera, etc.
For my first degree it felt very strange going down from Scotland to Cam- bridge into this microcosm, and sort of being taken back into the past. It’s all very dreaming spires, cloistered, and just away from the world. Cambridge was a bit of a culture shock, but I kind of got used to it.
Leeds is a big contrast from that. It seems very friendly and chatty and, having spent most of my life in Glasgow, it feels much more similar in that sense. I chose this accommodation through the Conservatoire; they recommended it as very good post grad accommodation. I looked into the building, and it seemed lovely. It compares really well in reality to how it appeared online, though I didn’t realise it was such a new build. This location is also very handy; it’s a 10-minute walk to the centre.
I’ve got a room in an eight-bedroom flat. We’ve got a big kitchen and communal room, with a few sofas for a relaxed seating area, and then our individual rooms. My own room is very comfortable, warm, and welcoming.
There are an interesting mix of students in the flat. We’re all Conservatoire students, but there’s an assortment of different disciplines: some doing mu-
sic, another studying musical theatre, jazz and classical musicians, and two other dramaturgy students. It’s a lovely community of people from the UK, Ire- land, and China, where we all feel a part of the culture of the Conservatoire.
I wouldn’t say I was nervous, but I was wondering who my flatmates would be, and whether they would be nice. They’ve been really lovely. We some- times sit down and eat dinner together, which is a great way of feeling part of something and getting to know people.
So far, I’ve mainly used the university facilities for socialising. I haven’t been much further afield yet, but I’ve gone to some of the Conservatoire events that were in cafes, bars, and other venues. This accommodation has helped me settle in and focus properly on my post-graduate course, because it feels like a safe place to come back to, and my flatmates are very nice and supportive.
I always wanted to be in the theatre as part of the production team but didn’t know that dramaturgy existed until a lecture I attended during my previous degree. It was during a module on theatre and the lecturer spoke about her work as a dramaturgist and I thought, “Ah, that’s what I want to do.”
Dramaturgists work as part of the creative team within a theatre, alongside the directors and producers, to create something that historically and theatrically is both relevant and accurate. So, there’s a lot of research involved. It can affect the visual aspect as well as the script. It is really interesting, and it seems like no-one’s ever heard of it!
There’s growing space for dramaturgy in the job market, I think. A lot of theatres now have a dramaturgist who is resident within the theatre, so there’s a base for me somewhere!
Leeds The Terry Frost Building
Leeds The Terry Frost Building
