Vacant historic Yorkshire mills to get a new lease of life
VACANT textiles mills in Yorkshire are set to be re-purposed under Historic England plans.
The organisation has teamed up with property consultants Cushman & Wakefield and architects Lathams to investigate redevelopment projects.
The whole project aims to secure sustainable futures for West Yorkshire’s textile mills.
A number of mills in the region, including the Lumb Lane textile mill in Bradford and the Greenhill rag mill in Batley have been victim to fires and demolition in recent months.
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The team will look at a selection of mills and devise proposals for their re-use.
Trevor Mitchell, Yorkshire planning director at Historic England says: “The textile mills of West Yorkshire are iconic buildings that people care deeply about. Some of these mills have been brilliantly and creatively converted to places to work, live or socialise.
“We are working with Cushman & Wakefield to understand how these successful conversions have been achieved and try to find solutions for those mills that need a new purpose to become great landmarks in our region again.”
Stephen Miles, director of Cushman & Wakefield, added: “With the combination of market improvement and the renewed appetite in the public sector to invest in property projects, it is a good time to look afresh at the opportunities for bringing these significant buildings back into use.
“We intend to use this work not only as a benchmark of best practice but also as a stimulus for regeneration of the selected mill projects.”
The exemplar mills have been selected and owners contacted. The findings are expected to be available in spring 2016.
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