Member Article

£1.1 million renovation programme for landmark Huddersfield building

One of Huddersfield’s landmark buildings has begun a £1.1 million renovation project.

Scaffolding will be erected on the iconic town centre development, St George’s Quarter, in a bid to replace the roof.

Hd1 Developments Ltd. has invested £1.1 million in the roof replacement work of the former railway warehouse and the firm has ambitious plans to ensure the centrally located building becomes one of Huddersfield’s exemplary hubs for leisure and business.

Having opened in 2010, plans to develop eight office suites on each of the four floors and a conference and exhibition space on the fifth floor of the site were put on hold as the economy battled the recession. But the company is certain the future is bright for the historic building, with 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. The next stage of the development will then be work to support heating and cooling technology, lifts and staircases, washroom facilities and high speed network cabling.

Mark Hanson of Hanson’s Chartered Surveyors advised:

“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.

The aspirational plans would see the pedestrian underground subway extended to connect the building into the heart of Huddersfield.

Whilst the office suites didn’t take off as originally expected, Hd1 Developments Ltd. has been busy putting plans in place and has invested in a number of activities since.

Hd1 Developments Ltd. has regularly supported the Festival of Light and even dedicated space within the 130 year old building to the creation of a bespoke farm set for LePhun, the ‘French farmers’ which kicked off Le Grand Depart as part of the Tour de France last year. ITV also based their wardrobe and catering facilities in the building for the popular drama Blackworks and the warehouse was recently home to The University of Huddersfield’s end of year photography exhibition.

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.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Robert Beaumont .