John McAslan & Partners has secured the backing of Leeds city councillors for a 21-storey student housing tower for developer Downing in Leeds.

Councillors agreed to grant outline permission, pending approval of construction materials, for a tower containing 404 student bedrooms, the second development phase on a site formerly occupied by Leeds Metropolitan University.

The building comprises four clusters of student accommodation centred around a common core, which features cantilevered extensions.

At ground floor level the building features full height glazing. Light grey terracotta is used on the spine to complement earlier phases on the site, while grooved dark grey terracotta is proposed as a contrast on the wings.

The building is proposed alongside existing Yorke, Rosenberg and Mardell campus buildings.