Application to demolish the main mill building of Vale Mills between Haworth and Oakworth:

26/03459/PIP | Permission in principle for the demolition of existing buildings and construction of 5 – 9 dwellings with associated works | Woodlands Farm 38 Wilsden Hill Road Wilsden Bradford West Yorkshire BD15 0BG

This application was reported in local and national media as converting this Victorian mill into housing, however upon scrutiny on the plans, the large 4 story mill building, which is the most prominent component of this historic site, was to be demolished. The grade II listed smaller L-shaped mill building would be the only retained element converted. This would be demolition by stealth.

A certificate of lawfulness was originally submitted to Bradford Council, which would not allow for the refusal of the proposal. Rather, it would have been an exercise in assessing whether or not the demolition is covered by permitted development laws.

However, I have been in touch with Heritage England, and they have clarified that because this building falls within the property boundary of the grade II listed mill building, it is at the discretion of the Local Authority as to whether or not the larger building is ‘curtilege listed’. Ward Councillors have been in touch with the Case Officer, so I hope that this proposal is considered unlawful under permitted development rights.

This is a beautiful old mill building complementing the topography of the Worth Valley, and adding to the heritage landscape that the KWVR preserved steam railway navigates. Surely if the developer is mobilising the talent needed to convert half of this mill into residential use, they may as well do the job properly and utilise all of the mill.

Prior notification for the demolition of Birks Mill in Walsden has been refused:

Walsden is a little known canal town, next door to Todmorden and nestled in the Pennines just before Yorkshire becomes Lancashire. It is a stunning place, and Victorian mills have somehow survived here; likely as a result of the strong local pride that runs through Upper Calderdale and the Pennine peoples that have inherited the spirit of the Levellers.

This mill has been redundant for a while now but the structure does not appear to be beyond salvage, and would be ideal for residential conversion. Its a great example of an industrial building responding to the terrain of the Pennines, and is a piecemeal cluster of extensions and annexes resulting in uniquely beautiful stone geometry of chamfered corners and intersecting roofs.

The case officer, Osian Perks, must have recognised this and has refused the application. This is a very brave decision and I can not commend the Officer enough for invoking a clause in the legislation that does not allow prior notification for demolition if ‘the building has been rendered unsafe or otherwise uninhabitable by the action or inaction‘ by the applicant.

The application has clearly been considered incredibly thoroughly and on the off-chance Osian reads this, thank you for going the extra mile. I hope the owners now go back to the drawing board and consider re-use of the existing building.

A large industrial site is to be cleared for development on Kirkstall Road in Leeds:

An extremely large industrial complex is set to be leveled on Kirkstall Road in Leeds. No plans for development have been made publically available yet, but I imagine there have been years of pre-application meetings with the Council effectively granting planning permission before the public or elected members can get a word in. This is a demolition notice, which is shrewd because it can not be refused.

The removal of the Kirkstall Road frontage will be a severe loss to this area of Leeds, which I’ve previously documented has been denuded of nearly all its heritage. Despite 70 years of reformed urbanism that has demonstrated the value in heritage-led regeneration, this is the easier and quicker option.

The frontage shown above is a beatiful example of an industrial townscape, with a varying roofline and rhythmic intricate elevation that directly addresses the street. This quality of built form no longer exists and is rarely replicated in modern development.

The above building would be perfect for residential conversion. There appears to be nothing structurally wrong with it, and it is a fine example of a modestly detailed Victorian building – modest, but not quite utilitarian.

The elongate former tannery around the corner is not quite as pretty, but still would make for an excellent piece of repurposed industrial stock.

Also a shame will be the loss of the rear elevation which forms part of the canal’s retaining wall. This Venetian form of development will never be repeated again.

The turn of the century map shows that much of this building stock is Victorian, and represents Leeds’ gilded age. Without a spot listing nothing of this area will remain, and my guess is that the Council have already generated enough momentum with a development partner to ensure this will be swift and not subject to public scrutiny. Even more of a shame is the fact that I worked on a masterplan for this area many years ago, and central to this was a local heritage list. I suppose this never made it to adoption.

Application for the demolition of various buildings within a listed industrial complex in Hull:

Extremely ambiguous plans have been submitted with a number of options for the removal of the listed buildings shown in the image above. Various options for thinning out the site have been put forward, the most comprehensive of which would see the entire site cleared.

This is the Cargill Works, formerly a major processing plant for seed oils, the largest of the buildings being an oil silo. The buildings are Grade II listed due to their historic relevance to the industrial history of Hull.

We have seen similar storage buildings re-purposed for successful cultural regeneration, such as the Baltic in Newcastle. A similarly scaled building in Brighouse is now the highest rock clibing wall in the country. Demolition should be minimised to any dangerous tanks and external plant. The Chimney, and surrounding brick buildings could be retained and brought into a new use, complementing the central silo.

One of Holbeck’s last mills to be demolished:

We are truly down to the last few remnants of old Holbeck now. One of the last remaining clusters of the old red brick industry of South Leeds for miles around looks like it will be lost. Lessons learned from the successful heritage-led regeneration of Water Lane in the South of the City would hopefully convince the Council that they should fight for this building and bring together a masterplan.

The building is in a conservation area, and to their credit, Leeds Council’s heritage team strongly oppose this demolition. Indeed the very shape of the conservation area has clearly been mapped out to include all of the remaining Victorian Stock Holbeck. To ignore the designation would be malpractice.

Roughly dating from circa 1827 this former flax mill has eolved to include some impressive strutural buttresses that have resulted in a unique form. A testament to a lost culture of modifying buildings rather than flattening them.

It would cost a lot to regenerate this building as a residential development, but it has been done successfully (and profitably) with Hunslet Mills on the canal.

I sincerely hope this application is resisted.

More of the scarce few heritage buildings are to be lost for the regeneration of Leeds’ South Bank:

By no means are these buildings of any particular merit, but they are the last few remnants of the industrial past of Holbeck, and should be used as a nucleus for the ongoing regeneration of the South Bank in Leeds, which is the largest regeneration project in Europe.

To denude the entire site (which is the size of the existing City centre) of any buildings that link to the past will make it impossible for any new development to inherit an identity. Just around the corner in Holbeck Urban Village is a great success story predicated on heritage-led regeneration. These are the buildings that micro-breweries and vegan cafes want to occupy.

This application follows a similar one from last year which saw another Victorian block removed. This was a natural cultural nucleus of what will be a massively dense and populated urban quarter. The site of the old brewing industry for the city, it means a lot to Leeds, and these few remnants should be integrated into the modern urban form that will emerge.

There really isn’t much left of the Victorian building stock in the South Bank. Source NLS.

Industrial campus to be cleared for a new suburb:

Not the grandest of Yorkshire’s mills, this dark red brick complex of north-light buildings, houses, and mills is to be cleared for a very dull volume house build in this rural location in between the cities of Leeds and Bradford.

A heritage-led masterplan would see the terraced houses retained, and all the two-story elements utilised as a nucleus from which to design the rest of the site. No such vision from the architects that have put together this layout, which suffers from the usual standardised highway widths, corner radii, and housing types.

Even the retention of the road layout would at least leave a token allsuion to the site’s history. And always worth a mention is the incredble waste of embedded carbon which could be saved if the buildings were rennovated and not demolished.

Dilapidated north-light mill complex in Leeds to be cleared:

These are the demolitions that hurt the most, because as soon as I see the notice go into the planning portal, I know there is no hope. A messy, composite industrial building, in an area of low value, outside of any regeneration framework. The odds are firmly against buildings like these.

The frontage above which seamlessly transitions from domestic architecture to the end of the northlight factory floor is the stuff of dreams for the purveyors of industrial-chic, such as Urban Splash. If I was the planner I’d make sure this fade was retained and some high quality public realm secured to the front of this elevation to complement it.

Most people think these forges and factories are dirty old Leeds, that need to be expunged. I see a robustly designed building that maximises the industrial output of such a small plot, and creates a frontage to the road that is geometrically absurd, and unique. The shapes and textures you see above will never be replicated in industrial architecture again.

For years this factory operated as Blakeys Iron Works, producing boot potectors, of all things. Amazingly these ‘segs’ (as they are known) continue to me manufactured in Walsall. I’m sure Armley is still full of the workers who would have passed through these gates each day. Go have a wander down there before February 9th, before its gone.