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Designer Allford Hall Monaghan Morris Architects Developer Welfield Ltd Contractor Not yet appointed Planning Authority Leeds City Council

This is an important triangular site, next to Broderick’s Corn Exchange and the White Cloth Hall in the centre of Leeds, and part of a Conservation Area. The successful winner of a limited competition stitches together two vacant sides with existing Victorian buildings in a four-storey block of two-bedroom flats above ground floor retail uses, topped by larger penthouse apartments with set back glazing, around a central courtyard. Ingenious planning has minimised escape corridors, allowing a simple plan with bedrooms on one side and living areas on the other.

The treatment of the elevations is robust but subtle, with large faience panels, pressed brick and deep window reveals reflecting the power of the surrounding Victorian architecture: respect without fawning deference. Generous window sizes and ceiling heights give added value to a private sector development which sets high standards for others to follow in the regeneration of the Exchange area of Leeds.