Citu secures £20m for low carbon homes ahead of next phase of Climate Innovation District in Leeds

Together, a specialist lender which has a loan book of more than £4.4bn, has agreed the loan with Citu, the developer behind the regeneration of large swathes of Leeds city centre on both banks of the River Aire.

The finance will allow Citu to start building the latest residential phase of its Climate Innovation District, which once complete, will be a community of more than 1,000 new low carbon, timber-framed homes underpinned by leisure, offices, a primary school, care home and a factory where the buildings are manufactured.

Ian Pickering, Together’s head of development funding, said the package had been agreed to “support Citu’s ambition to tackle climate change by creating one of the UK’s largest sustainable urban developments.”

He said: “Citu has an amazing vision, which in many ways ties in with our own as a lender in supporting schemes that not only make a massively positive difference to the immediate local community but which also have a positive effect on the much wider population.

“Our £20m facility will help Citu to achieve their ambitions in creating the next phase of their low-carbon and community-focused Climate Innovation District, to breathe new life into this area of previously disused industrial land, while driving new ways of urban living and working.”

Mr Pickering added: “Our experienced development finance team showed fantastic levels of service by completing this major deal less than three weeks after visiting the site and the finance package signals our appetite for future growth in the Yorkshire region.”

Once completed, the latest phase will include 55 homes and 87 apartments ranging from one-bedroom flats with a floor space of up to 549 sq ft to four bedroom family homes of up to 1,406 sq ft.

The residential development, which sits on the north bank of the river, will also include three penthouses ranging between 1,256 and 1,456 sq ft and 76 car parking spaces.

The homes are designed to be so efficient that a gas boiler is not required.

Instead, they rely on their insulation, an air-tight thermal envelope and a mechanical heat recovery ventilation (MVHR) system that recycles heat from household appliances whilst bringing in fresh air.

The project is the latest of Citu’s schemes financed by Together since 2007, most to revive urban wasteland or disused buildings.

Last month Citu released a new phase of Climate Innovation District homes to market with the launch of Central Place – a range of three and four bedroom townhouses and one and two bedroom apartments.

The district is also home to Leeds’s first zero-carbon commercial building, known as The Place, also financed by Together.

Chris Thompson, managing director of Citu, added: “Our partnership with Together over the last 15 years has been vital in enabling our business, and the communities we are building, to grow. We are thrilled to continue our collaboration and take the next phase of the Climate Innovation District forwards.”