Divided Opinions On Bradfords Channel

You wouldn't think of Bradford as much of a skyscraper city and you'd be right but if Magellan Properties get their way this could soon be changing.The Channel is the centrepiece of the Will Alsop master-plan to regenerate the centre of Bradford from one of Britain's dingiest cities, raped by decades of industrial recession, into one of the brightest.Magellan have hired Robinson Architects to design the detailed work of the scheme that will include over a dozen blocks creating 2600 new homes, trendy bars, offices and hotels all overlooking the 1 million gallon piece of water the development is named after, all costing a cool £350 million.Unfortunately the developers have hit a hitch, Bradford City Council. The council are upset over the height of the scheme and have already had some of the taller buildings in it reduced to 13 floors although the tallest building, a spiral tower of 22 floors seems to remain at present. All of this is still far above the 5-7 maximum that the area is supposed to have according to the master-plan. Some argue that reducing height, and by implications density, would reduce the prestige of the whole scheme that is supposed to be the centre-point of 21st century Bradford, a strange decision when almost every other city in the UK is building bigger and size does matter. Critics also say that it shows just how out of touch the council are with the urban realities of today, particularly when they so desperately need increasing amounts of urban regeneration and are not in the position to pick and choose that other cities such as Leeds now find themselves in. Supporters of the council claim that the master-plan shows a good and idyllic image of what Bradford could be like and just because other places do it, or developers want it, there's no reason to sacrifice quality for an overbearing development.Rather than get into an intractable position both sides are now looking to an independent panel to thrash out once and for all. This will create a delay on the scheme of several months but the end result should be a design that everyone can live with.