Property firm invests £1.1m in former railway warehouse revamp

COMMERCIAL property firm Hd1 Developments has invested £1.1m in the renovation of a former railway warehouse in Huddersfield.

The town centre development in St George’s Quarter will see the roof replaced as Hd1 plans to create a leisure and business hub.

The firm first opened the building in 2010, and plans to develop eight office suites on each of the four floors, as well as a conference and exhibition space.

Further plans to include a range of retail outlets within the building, subject to planning.

The work to be carried out by Jennings Roofing with Hanson’s Chartered Surveyors and Colliers International marketing the building for Hd1 Developments Ltd is expected to take 20 weeks.

Mark Hanson of Hanson’s Chartered Surveyors who advised on the renovations said:”The immense size of the building means it needs to operate an approach by which the scaffolding is erected to one side of the building with the roof replaced there and so on to ensure that the building envelope is complete.

“The investment by Hd1 Developments Ltd. shows a full commitment to the scheme and we want to give occupiers the confidence that in moving into the building, it will be at the highest required standard with no further external repair works needed.”

The firm is also in discussions with West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA), Network Rail, First Transpennine Express and Kirklees Council to discuss connecting the development’s car park to the train station.

Susan Meadwell, project manager of Hd1 Developments Ltd. commented: “It’s been busy behind the scenes to get us to the stage of replacing the roof to high conservation standards.

“We’ve already spent over £200,000 on window replacement but the scaffold is the first physical sign that the development is beginning to wake up.”