Moda Living's Johnny Caddick reveals why New York Square apartments in Leeds are a game changer for the rental market

There is no progress without change and the dwellings that have occupied the Quarry Hill area in Leeds city centre over the last 250 years are a prime example of this truism. The first homes to be built there in the late 1700s were back to backs, which soon became overcrowded slums that were demolished to make way for the vast Quarry Hill flats complex, built by Leeds City Council.

Ready for occupation in 1938, the project was ground-breaking and boasted 13 steel-framed and concrete clad blocks with just under 1,000 flats boasting all mod cons, including electric lights and a communal wash house. The council development was home to around 3,000 people, making it the largest social housing complex in the UK at the time.

Its architecture and scale were influenced by Karl Marx Court in Vienna, an even bigger affordable housing scheme built in 1930s modernist style. Much lauded Karl Marx Court still stands but Quarry Hill was bulldozed in 1978 due to structural issues and a poor reputation.

While the area has since regenerated into a vibrant cultural quarter occupied by The Playhouse, BBC Yorkshire’s HQ and Leeds Conservatoire, it has taken decades for a new residential scheme to appear but perhaps another saying “the best things come to those who wait” is appropriate.

New York Square by Yorkshire-based Moda Living is preparing to open its doors and is now taking reservations for 515 rental apartments across two, 16-storey towers. Like Quarry Hill, this is a build to rent scheme but that’s where the comparison stops. New York Square is open market rather than social housing, and it is helping to lead the way towards a new, far more luxurious, people friendly way of renting an apartment.

The interiors in this building are super stylish and tenants have access to free wi-fi, a 24 hour gym, a shared lounge, roof terraces, a cinema room, games room and co-working spaces. Well-behaved pets are also allowed on the basis that they are good for our health. This wealth of amenities come at a price that is above the average rental flat. A studio at New York Square is £950 a month, a one bed flat is from £1,100 and two beds from £1,500 but people are more than willing to pay for the facilities and the chance to make friends within a real community.

“Creating a community and wellbeing are at the core of what we do,” says Johnny Caddick, MD of Moda Living, which is part of the long-established Caddick Group founded by his father Paul Caddick. Johnny cut his teeth in the sector in 2014 with Angel Gardens in central Manchester, a 36-storey built to rent skyscraper with a rooftop sports pitch. Tenants now include everyone from footballers and families to senior citizens and young city workers.

Since then, he has overseen a rapid expansion of what Moda Living calls its “next generation neighbourhoods”, now in Liverpool and Edinburgh and with schemes in London, Glasgow, Brighton, Birmingham and York opening soon and more in the pipeline. New York Square in Leeds will also be expanded with another apartment block added and the site around it in the SOYO – South of York Road district – will soon boast a new hotel, offices, restaurants and bars plus green spaces.

“It all began in 2013 by looking at how habits were changing towards renting rather than home ownership because of affordability and we went to North America to look at the build to rent market there, where it is well established,” says Johnny. “We brought back ideas and added some of our own.”

Health and wellness is a USP for Moda, which provides residents with virtual access to nutritionists, yoga, wellbeing coaches and sleep and mental health advisers via an app while sensors in the building measure sound, light, temperature and humidity to make sure they are at optimum levels.

Moda Living faces competition from a flurry of other build to rent schemes in Leeds city centre. However, Johnny Caddick believes there is no shortage of would-be tenants of all ages and adds that the high-tech, amenity-rich flats will help with student retention while attracting fresh talent and business to the city, along with coffee shops and restaurants. He adds: “There has been a massive growth of build to rent in Manchester in the last 10 years and it still hasn’t reached saturation point and I think Leeds city centre will have a similar trajectory and the people living there will be its life-blood.”

This reflects a big societal change due to lifestyle demands and rising house prices, which is why Moda Living is planning more schemes in central Leeds while taking build to rent to the suburbs with its Casa by Moda brand, which will specialise in family homes nationwide. Visit www.modaliving.com/live/location/leeds

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