UK: Proposals for a 78-unit coliving scheme at a grade II-listed former library in Leeds have been approved at appeal.
Plans put forward by Yeme Archirects on behalf of developer Parklane Group will add a six-storey extension to the single-storey former Burley Branch Library, which was designed by Gilbert Burdett Howcroft and opened in 1926.
Leeds City Council previously consented a similar version of the scheme that featured 60 individual apartments and would have seen the listed library building converted for use as a coworking hub.
The appeal scheme would also convert the neo-Georgian library for coworking, but makes amendments to the design of the new-build element of the consented scheme, such as removing balconies.
Last year Leeds City Council refused consent for the scheme on the grounds that all but three of the proposed coliving units fell below space standards for a one-bedroom unit with shower room, as set out in the Leeds Local Plan Core Strategy.
The majority of the units (68 studios) proposed for Burley Library would be 30 square metres in area; a further three studios would be 32 square metres; and four duplex units would be 33 square metres.
The council has a 37 square metre minimum space requirement for a one-bedroom flat. Leeds City Council’s decision letter said that as a result the development would not provide residents with an adequate amount of private-living space.
Planning inspector Susan Hunt said it was agreed between the developer and the authority that co-living was distinct in planning-use terms from residential use.
She added that Leeds did not have any directly relevant policy that related to coliving, and that a technical guidance note produced in November last year carried no weight in the decision making process.
“The parties are in agreement that the coliving use is acceptable in this accessible location, and I have no reason to disagree with this,” Hunt said. “I have found that the living conditions of future occupiers, in terms of space and a range of other factors including the provision of communal spaces would be acceptable. Some of the proposed works to the grade II listed Burley Branch Library would lead to less than substantial harm to the significance of the designated heritage asset and to this I attach great weight. I have considered the public benefits of the proposal, including securing its optimum viable use, and conclude that such benefits outweigh the harm.”
In April last year, Leeds councillor Kayleigh Brooks said the concept of coliving was “dystopian” and “not something we should be encouraging”.
