Leeds City Council yesterday granted a resolution to approve a full planning permission to a national developer for a new Build to Rent (BTR) scheme in Leeds.

McLaren Living has secured planning consent for Beck Yard, a new £85 million residential development in the city’s large South Bank Regeneration area, a rapidly emerging residential and mixed-use quarter found in the heart of Leeds.

Designed by Carey Jones Chapman Tolcher (CJCT), Beck Yard will, once complete, transform a vacant, former car park site into ‘a vibrant, residential-led neighbourhood. This will be made up of 375 BTR homes, comprising a mix of apartments.

The development is made up of 30,000 sq ft of external amenity space and 7,000 sq ft of internal amenity, featuring residents’ lounges, shared workspaces, gym, and events areas, with roof gardens on the first, ninth^, and fourteenth floors.

Matthew Biddle, managing director at McLaren Living, said: “We’re extremely excited to move forward with our plans for Beck Yard and to work with Leeds City Council to deliver this landmark development, providing high quality yet attainable new homes to the city of Leeds.”

“It’s an excellent time to be working in the city. Leeds is one of the UK’s fastest growing cities, forecast to grow by 21% over the next ten years. It is rapidly becoming a headquarters location and the arrival of Channel 4, the planned move to the city by the BBC, along with major corporates, demonstrate a bright future.

“Beck Yard is one of two schemes we’re committed to delivering in Leeds and we anticipate receiving strong rental demand for our high-quality experience-led living.”

The South Bank is undergoing an approximately £500m regeneration scheme, one of the largest city centre development plans in Europe. The transformation of the area is set to create around 35,000 new jobs, 8,000 new homes and more than 1.2 million sq ft of office space.

McLaren Living is under offer with a funding partner with development anticipated to start in autumn 2022.