Piece Hall Halifax at Nighttime
Perspectives

Happy Yorkshire Day 2026 - A reflection on 30 years of change

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HAPPY YORKSHIRE DAY

This year’s Yorkshire Day falls on Saturday the 1st of August, and it prompted us to reflect on over 30 years of having a studio in Yorkshire. Thirty years is long enough to watch places change, grow and settle into daily life, and long enough to feel properly at home in a county that takes its landscape seriously.

It has been a brilliant journey thanks to great clients, colleagues, both past and present, and collaborators, too numerous to list. Whilst we are well known for certain landmark projects in Yorkshire, it has been hugely satisfying mapping the full list of all the amazing projects we have been lucky to work on. Apologies if we have missed something out, but the journey started when drawing boards and typing were still a thing, travelled through the full adoption of CAD, digitisation, the internet, and now the full utilisation of BIM/Revit and the AI revolution.

The tools have changed almost beyond recognition, but the thinking behind good landscape has not. Understanding a place, the people who use it and how it will hold up over time still matters.

We are now looking forward to, and planning, the next 30 years, whilst enjoying a brew of Yorkshire Tea of course, as some things don’t change.

Thanks everyone, and happy Yorkshire Day!

A map showing Gillespies projects across Yorkshire over the last 30 years.
A map summarising Gillespies' projects within Yorkshire over the last 30 years.
Bradford City Park at night
Bradford City Park Gillespies led the design team of Arup, Sturgeon North Architects, Fountain Workshop and a host of other collaborators from concept design in 2008, through planning consent and delivery on site until final completion in 2013. The award winning park has become an iconic ‘postcard’ space for Bradford, with the mirror pool acting as an event in its own right but also a canvas for major events. The Park played a key role in accelerating the renaissance of Bradford and set the template for more recent extensive award winning improvements in public realm on nearby streets and spaces led by Bradfords own tremendous Landscape Design & Conservation Team.
Piece Hall Halifax in daytime
Halifax Piece Hall Completed in 2017 the Piece Hall has been transformed by a multimillion-pound restoration programme that has transformed the grade I listed building into a landmark visitor destination, with heritage interpretation, three levels of shops, independent new start-ups, restaurants and businesses, as well as a reimagined central courtyard designed by Gillespies. The courtyard has gone on to host a series of amazing events including most recently the Sex Pistols. Wonderfully the charitable trust that runs the much loved landmark has recently reported and turnaround in their finances.
Landscaping at the Harrogate Arms within RHS Harlow Carr
Landscaping at the Harrogate Arms within RHS Harlow Carr.
Yorkshire Wildlife Park expansion plans
Plans completed for expansion of Yorkshire Wildlife Park

Full List of featured Yorkshire projects

Leeds

  • Tropical World - Masterplan
  • Dakota Hotel - Landscape
  • Little London PFI housing regen - Masterplan & landscape
  • Wellington Place nos. 10, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 - Public realm
  • Mass Transit - LVIA
  • Leeds station south entrance - Public realm
  • Ironworks - Residential landscape
  • Latitude Purple B - Residential landscape
  • Springwell Gardens - Residential landscape
  • Flood alleviation scheme - Landscape
  • Swarcliffe housing regen - Landscape
  • Leeds Civic Campus Phase 3 Leeds city centre - Public realm
  • Meanwood Valley Urban Farm - Landscape
  • CT&R Carnegie LBU campus - Landscape
  • Centre for Creative Arts LBU - Landscape
  • University of Leeds - Landscape masterplan
  • Trinty Leeds - Public realm
  • New Dock - Landscape masterplan
  • The Tower, Josephs Well - Landscape

 

York

  • University of York - Masterplan
  • Coney Street mixed use redevelopment - Landscape

 

Huddersfield

  • Greenhead Park - Restoration
  • Huddersfield Our Cultural Heart Phase 1 and 2 - Public realm
  • Huddersfield University masterplan and Daphene Steel Building - Landscape

 

Bradford

  • Bradford City Park - Public realm
  • Bradford City and Canal Road Corridor - Green infrastructure studies
  • Bradford City Plan - Urban Design Addendum
  • Forster Court - Retail landscape
  • Lynfield Mount Hospital redevelopment - Landscape

 

Wakefield

  • Wakefield - Urban Greening Strategy
  • Wakefield - Streetstyle design guide
  • Crown Court - Public realm
  • District Housing/Vico Homes, 35no. estates regen - Landscape

 

Knottingley

  • Community Pavilion
  • Urban Extension - Masterplan

 

Barnsley

  • Public spaces - Design guide
  • West MU1 - Landscape masterplanning & LVIA

 

Castleford

  • Riverside - Public realm
  • Cathedral Square
  • Axiom M62 Jct 32 - Landscape

 

Additional projects across Yorkshire:

  • Yorkshire Wildlife Park expansion - Landscape
  • Dewsbury - Design Guide
  • South Cayton - Masterplan
  • Sheffield - Urban Design Compendium
  • Piece Hall - Public realm
  • Bolton Abbey - Masterplan
  • Tithe Barn - Landscape
  • Harlow Carr Harrogate Arms - Landscape
  • Carr lodge - Landscape
  • Humber Bridge country park - Masterplan