Leanne, age 28

"I approached Morgans Estate Agents about two and half years ago when I was in the market. I looked around so many apartments and studios in Leeds but I liked the style and design of my flat and the whole development, plus it is in the city centre (or near enough) and has excellent transport links, in my eyes the best in Leeds. 

I view the Holbeck Urban Village as being in the city centre but with out the noise or hassle of late night revellers. It si literally five minutes walk from theatres, clubs, bars, restaurants, shops and all of the other trappings of the city centre and to all intents and purposes is a city centre location it’s just a different postcode and a slightly different more laid back approach to the pace of life. The lifestyle is very chilled and friendly. The whole area has a very continental café style culture in the summer but with beer and wine instead of coffee. 

I work from home, but I have worked in Harrogate and Horsforth while I have lived at the Round Foundry, living in the city centre and having good transport links was more important to me than living near work. Although the Round Foundry would really have fulfilled both categories. Living here basically means that I can work just about anywhere I want and it wouldn’t be a particularly huge hassle to get there. There are people living here that work all over the world and they don’t leave the house much earlier than I do. It really is a good base to do business from which helps given that I work from home!

I think that focusing on the creative industries is a good move, it will give the Holbeck Urban Village a charm and character all of its own.  The amount of large scale unimaginative developments needs to be limited, this is a good opportunity for a raft of smaller creative design led developments. The urban village so far seems to have made a concerted effort to ensure good design in new developments and so long as the character of the area is retained through the old buildings I think we will have a truly unique environment to be proud of.

When asked if I would recommend Holbeck Urban Village as a place to live I said yes and true to my word I have done to numerous friends. I think Holbeck Urban Village and the way in which it develops may hold the key to retaining young start up families in the city centres. More and more developments are looking at affordable housing and larger apartments that could accommodate families. The Holbeck urban village could certainty be a solution, in 5 years time or so I may well have a family where will I live then? not in a city centre 1 bed apartment that’s for sure but at the same time I may well not want to give up the city lifestyle and some of the developments taking place may mean that people don’t have to make a trade off for family life."