Could this be the next New York High Line – in Leeds?

In late 2021, Buro Happold’s Leeds office undertook work assisting the community-led Holbeck Viaduct CIC in delivering a strategy and design that will bring life back to a forgotten viaduct in the outskirts of the city centre.

Holbeck Viaduct is a 1.7km stretch of stranded railway infrastructure just 10 minutes walking distance from Leeds train station. Disused since the 1980s but a strategic route linking the city centre to Holbeck, Elland Road and Wortley, the viaduct is in a location prime for regeneration particularly given the increasing number of high-profile developments in the vicinity that are bringing social and economic vibrancy back to the area; Globe Point, Sky Gardens and Temple Works to name but a few.

For almost two decades, a local group has been campaigning for the viaduct’s redevelopment. As a park in the sky, it could provide much needed access to green space for the community as well as an active travel route from the city centre to Elland Road, promoting health and wellbeing coupled with localised benefits to amenities and biodiversity. As an electrified skyline, it could provide an efficient and sustainable public transport system in an area currently lacking accessible infrastructure.

The black brick of its 92 archways set against Holbeck and the surrounding area’s rich industrial heritage adds a unique cultural aesthetic to its social, economic and environmental value – all of which are yet to be unlocked.

Buro Happold’s Leeds office received internal funding from the Share Our Skills (SOS) scheme to assist Holbeck Viaduct CIC in bringing forward a Vision for the viaduct, through engineering and consulting advisory across a broad range of disciplines and led by its young engineers and employees.

In wake of recent success for green urban redevelopment in the north, the likes of Castlefield Viaduct and Mayfield, the wider community team is looking to create an event that will reconnect and engage the Leeds community with the viaduct. While this may not be a permanent solution to its redevelopment at present, it aims to bring a sense of purpose and value back to a forgotten, dormant asset, with the hopes of unlocking its future potential.

Could this be the next New York High Line, in Leeds?

Follow along on social media as the project progresses.