Oak House

Formerly a 1970s office building, the Oak House site lies within the Hanover Square / Woodhouse Square Conservation Area, adjacent to Hanover Park and surrounded by Victorian architecture and listed buildings. Designed with Unipol, the scheme responds to Leeds’ student market by providing affordable, community-focused accommodation through predominantly cluster bedrooms – creating a genuine ‘home away from home’.

Bridging the scale between the denser developments to the south and residential streets to the north, Oak House includes student rooms, studios, and shared living spaces, with ground-floor amenities designed to encourage activity, wellbeing, and natural surveillance.

Positioned near Leeds City Centre, within a conservation area, Oak House is well connected to the University and local amenities. Our detailed contextual analysis identified the importance of preserving long distance views to local landmarks such as the Church of St Bartholomew and the dominant Armley Prison, both of which are Grade II* Listed, as well as developing a scheme which responds to the surrounding architecture.

We worked to preserve and enhance the setting by creating a series of linked townhouses, facetted to respond to the curving site boundary fronting on to Park Lane and reflecting the historic street pattern. The scheme graduates in height from 3 to 6 storeys with a mixture of brick & zinc facades, terminating in a ‘bookend pavilion’ that completes the streetscape and views from Hanover Square.

Extensive pre-application discussions were had with Leeds City Council, the Leeds Residents Association (including residents of Hanover Avenue and Kendal Bank) and future operator Unipol who shaped a shared vision for student living, balancing modern needs with neighbourhood character. The extensive consultations influenced an enhancement of visual amenity and biodiversity value of the existing embankment, the scope for dual use of the communal facilities with local residents and the use of railings and external planting to clearly differentiate public and private realm.

The design team, guided by collaboration and innovation, focused on delivering a project that exceeds expectations, blending student needs with architectural excellence. The scheme utilised a light gauge steel frame and modular bathrooms to aid with efficiency of construction within the tight site constraints. The co-ordination of this construction method was undertaken entirely virtually during the pandemic lockdown using our extensive knowledge of BIM programmes.

The project commits to sustainability through efficient design, energy conservation, and a focus on renewable resources. This strategy is also paired with a LGSF, creating design efficiencies through factory manufacture, significantly reducing on-site waste to negligible levels with over 90% of the factory waste (which is less than 1/2% of purchased material) being recycled and re-purposed. The Off-site Manufacture also allowed us to maximise the volume on a single delivery, reducing the number of deliveries and therefore environmental impact.

Collaborating with MetStructures throughout the process allowed us to create an efficiently designed light gauge steel framing, which offers reduced carbon emissions as it is manufactured utilising a recycled steel content of over 40%.
The advantages of a LGSF comes not only from the efficient design but also from the use of standard components and repeatable processes in the design, manufacture, and installation. This allows us to design a building to our clients’ bespoke needs with all the efficiencies of a standard system.

Main Contractor: GMI

Project Manager: Banks Smith

Operator: Unipol

M&E Engineer: Futurserv

Structural Engineer: JPG

Fire Engineer: BB7