Weetwood Police Station: Former police station set to be transformed into 127 homes in north Leeds

The developer, which has a portfolio of properties developed or refurbished to retain as landlord, is proposing to regenerate the site of the former Weetwood police station into a purpose-built residential scheme.

Comprising 127 built-to-rent apartments, the scheme will create much-needed new homes in the city.

Miles Pickard, director of Pickard Properties, said: “The site presents an ideal opportunity to transform previously developed land into a vibrant new community, complementing neighbouring green spaces with high quality apartments that are designed to be sympathetic to their surroundings.

"It will also make an important contribution to the growing demand for new modern homes in Leeds.”

The site was acquired by Pickard Properties, advised by Fox Lloyd Jones, after West Yorkshire Police closed the station and put the building up for sale in 2020.

The company has since formed an experienced development team to take its proposals forward, including Leeds-based planning consultants Quod, architects Halliday Clark, based in Ilkley, and project management and quantity surveyors Fox Lloyd Jones, also based in Leeds.

With a mix of one, two and three bedroom apartments, the scheme will be highly energy efficient and benefit from solar power and EV charging points, along with a ‘green roof’ on accessible roofs, which will be covered in moss to increase biodiversity and act as a natural air purifier.

The scheme will also enhance the local environment with green communal areas and landscaping to complement the established tree line, which separates the site from Otley Road, and will be expanded with the planting of new trees.

The communal landscaped areas will also be publicly accessible with new pathways proposed that will allow local people to walk through and enjoy the green spaces.

Richard Walsh, director at Halliday Clark, said: “Sustainability has been placed front and centre in the design of these apartments. In addition to creating impressive new homes, the development will adopt high environmental standards that respond to the city council’s climate emergency agenda.

"It has also been designed to utilise green energy solutions and enhance biodiversity and local green spaces. We have paid especial attention to retaining the mature landscape setting of the site, which is both a valuable biodiversity resource and an important part of the character of this part of north Leeds.”

If planning permission is granted by Leeds City Council, considerate demolition of the existing buildings is expected to begin in early 2024 with construction expected to begin later that year.

It will form part of Pickard Properties’ ongoing strategy to regenerate locations within the Leeds and West Yorkshire area, which it can not only develop, but retain, own, and manage for the long-term.

The project follows Pickard Properties’ current development at Spinning Acres in Headingley, which is transforming a site that contained derelict university accommodation into a build-to-rent enclave of high-quality apartments and high-end townhouses, along with the sympathetic regeneration of historic mill houses.