Dreams to turn an abandoned Leeds railway viaduct into a green space for the community is a step closer after almost 20 years of campaigning.
The Holbeck Viaduct is a 1.7-mile stretch linking Leeds city centre to Holbeck, Elland Road and Wortley. The line fell into disuse in the 1980s.
Local campaigners have been inspired by New York’s High Line and other similar projects in the UK, including Manchester’s Castlefield Viaduct and London’s Camden Highline.
Buro Happold’s Leeds office has provided support from its Share Our Skills programme. This allows the firm’s employees to work on worthy projects pro bono during work hours.
The engineering consultancy has helped the Holbeck Viaduct community interest company establish a framework to generate ideas and investment in the project via the Vision for the viaduct document.
Local firm Edward Architecture has provided design concepts for how the sky park might look.
Buro Happold said: “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.”
It said the line 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”.
The route could also be used as an electrified skyline, providing sustainable public transport, which the area is lacking.
YouTuber and urban explorer ‘AdventureMe Darren’ posted a walk-though of the Holbeck line (below) when it was left unlocked.
