Leeds office block could make way for 20-storey student housing

Blenheim House, which is currently empty, would be knocked down and replaced by the student development, a report says

An empty office block could be demolished to make way for a 20-storey student development just outside Leeds city centre if plans are approved.

The project would provide 717 bed spaces at the site on Duncombe Street, a report said.

The report to Leeds City Council planners also showed the site would include garden areas and cycle storage.

The housing would "ease pressure" on private family housing in the city, it added.

Leeds City Council was still in "early stage" discussions with companies, including Balfour Beatty, about the development, but a formal planning application was expected to be made, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

The development would be close to other new student accommodation blocks and safe walking routes to the city's universities would be mapped as part of the future planning application.

The rooms and studios would be larger than the "minimum standards" and all would have "adequate" daylight and sunlight, a pre-application report to the council's City Plans Panel said.

It added: "A future planning application will need to provide a fuller understanding of how the scheme contributes to student bed-space numbers, but does not create or add to an excessive concentration of this type of use in the area."