Bernard Ginns: Attract the very best to appear on the South Bank show

The Anglo-Iraqi architect has transformed the way we think about cities with her futuristic visions of cultural, corporate, residential and other spaces.

I wonder how some like Dame Hadid might view the potential that lies dormant in the area of Leeds known as the South Bank.

A visionary architect will certainly have plenty of building blocks to play with in our part of the world.

One, there is Leeds New Lane, the station planned for HS2, to be connected to the mainline station by raised walkways.

Two, there is the potential for a vast swathe of new housing in the wider area of south Leeds; enough space for a town the size of Otley, I am told. It would be perfect for some medium-density housing: picture two-storey three-bedroom family homes at street level with gardens outside with apartment blocks above. Attractive to both young professionals and young families. Add a city park. And no need to build on any greenfield land.

Three, young families go to where the schools are. There is no point moving to a new residential development in south Leeds if your school run takes you to Headingley.

The Department for Education has already given initial backing to the country’s biggest free school in the area.

Supporters believe the 1,500-place school could act as the catalyst for new development.

Could the Labour-run council bring itself to champion such a school as part of a wider regeneration project?

The South Bank and surrounding area present enormous opportunities for Leeds. There are not many other major cities in the UK with this kind of potential on their doorstep, as Mark Goldstone of the Leeds Chamber of Commerce points out.

“The Leeds South Bank offers the ‘missing piece’ of the development jigsaw within the city centre and a fantastic opportunity to add positively to its economy,” he said.

“What other major city in the UK has such a vast and valuable land bank so close to its core waiting to be utilised?”

Ben Aspinall, of the Leeds Sustainable Development Group, said he was encouraged by the council and partners taking a renewed interest in the area south of the river, but added that the activity should be coordinated.

“There are many regeneration sites that are available for development now which should be encouraged,” said Mr Aspinall.

“We need a wider coherent plan regardless of HS2.”

This is the sort of project that the city region and its various agencies should be promoting when they head to MIPIM for the world’s biggest property conference.

To catch the eye of big international investors, they must have a big vision – and that’s where the world-leading architects like Dame Hadid come in. They might be expensive but their involvement says something significant about a city’s ambition.

Look at what is being built in Shenzhen, in Singapore, in Calgary, in Bodrum. Borrow the best ideas.

We have a thriving economy in the city region, built on dynamic services and manufacturing industries and an educational sector of international renown.

We have a proven need for new housing, new schools and new transport connectivity.

Hire someone with kudos and clout to pull it all together in a grand masterplan, sell it in the right places and watch Yorkshire rise up the global league tables.

Ambition, a bit of vision and a group of like-minded people... that’s all it takes.

n Leeds Metropolitan University has demonstrated great initiative and pulling power in bringing together an excellent set of speakers for its latest lecture series.

They include Michael Woodford, the former chief executive of Olympus who turned whistleblower after discovering a $2bn accounting fraud at the Japanese engineering giant (whose book Exposure I can thoroughly recommend), Melvin Benn, the chief executive of Festival Republic, the company behind the Reading, Leeds and Latitude festivals, Rob Forkan, who was orphaned by the 2004 tsunami and went on to launch the Gandys Flip Flops social enterprise, and BBC economics wonk Hugh Pym. Top line-up.