Former Sunday School, Birr Road, Bradford
Demolition of a stunning listed ecclesiastical building:
Another shocking application to denude Bradford of her history. This is the former Sunday school to the rear of Most Holy Trinity & Our Lady of Pochaiv Church in Manningham, and it is a stunning building, which cumulatively with the church forms an almost abbey size Catholic campus in the city.
The plan is to knock it down and get ten houses in there. Needless to say the housing crisis will be cited by the applicant as justification, when the building could clearly accommodate that many flats, with much lower carbon expenditure required.
A YouTube video here does a brilliant walk-around of the building. The structure appears to be sound. Granted, the windows are boarded up and someone has tagged the shutters, but the masonry looks as fresh as the day it was built. The roof also appears to be in order, particularly for a building that hasn’t been in full use for ten years. Then again, churches are built to last. I mean really last – beyond the market forces and council housing strategies of the moment.
There is no reason to demolish this building other than the fact that it would make more money as developable land. But when a building is listed, and in a conservation area, and immediately adjacent the setting of a church, and is consecrated ground (I could go on…) the economic imperative is second to its heritage significance.
How annoying that the Council is being emotionally blackmailed by the notion of enabling development that would subsidise the main church building. I need only mention that the Catholic Church is rolling in it, and doesn’t need subsidising at the expense of a crime against heritage.
I’m also saddened to see the Ukrainian Church supportive of the proposal. I mean no disrespect, but the congregation should not have the final say as putative owners. It may be their church now, but it wasn’t always. This was built for the people of Yorkshire long before and it remains our history.
St Nicholas Primary School, Beverly
Notification of plans to demolish a school in Beverly:
Yet another Victorian primary school is being sold to a developer for a quick receipt for the council. Developers who lurk around council asset managers waiting for a bargain tend to be somewhat predatory, and are not the type of people to have the scruples that would see the beauty in such a building.
This is a stunning public building, which is still robust and fit for purpose. The variety of gables and the qoin features on the windows bring so much to the townscape here.
And it looks like a school, unlike new efforts at education facilities, which tend to look like a series of boxes adorned with serviceable landscaping and a few rainbow murals.
School building, Askern, Doncaster
Application to demolish a school building:
The original application to replace this school building with 6 dwellings was approved back in 2019, however it looks like the building has yet to be razed. An application to modify the original proposal has come in, so thought it would be worth covering on the Demolition Register.
A classic red brick school built between 1893 and 1906 that would have made a great residential conversion. I’m always amazed at the ornamentation that the architect would justify during the commissioning of Victorian/Edwardian schools, when working to a strict education board budget. Clearly the stone corbels and looping ridge tiles were worth the investment, if only for the pride they would instill in the children who went there each day.
Ripon Cathedral Choir School
Appication to demolish music institute in Ripon:
Persimon Homes are looking to build out 12 apartments as part of their wider strategic development on this site to deliver 105 dwellings. Originally they had received permission to convert this building.
Although they received permision to build out their houses, I would hazard that the determination may have been predicated on the betterment of the site, following the retention and restoration of this historic building. I question whether or not the permision would have been granted had the demolistion notice been included with the initial planning application.
Thankfully it sounds as though there has been a lot of vocal opposition to the plans, which is well documented in The Stray Ferret. However in my experience the local authority will struggle to justify a refusl, following what has presumably been a protracted process, subsuming hundreds of officer hours.
Bingley Science and Technical School
Plans to demolish Bingley Science and Technical School:
Bradford Council have been forced to sell this handsome building following an extensive marketing campaign which have proved unsuccessful in finding a new tenant. Interestingly a covenant attached to the building states it must only be used for local educational purposes. A very noble Victorian ambition indeed, however this clause could be the death knell of the school, as this imposed flexibility precludes a potential conversion to housing.
The Victorians and their institutions, slowly dismantled as civic society is subjected to the bottom line.
Couldn’t the free school movement have snapped this up from the council? I’m sure a peppercorn price could have been negotiated with a community group intent on setting up a free school for the sake of saving the building. This is near Ilkley after all.
St Marys School, Batley
Old School Buildings to be demolished in Batley:
The school building annexes to a grade II listed church and a second convent building is also part of the application and appears to be an attractive well ordered house.
An indicative scheme for residential conversion was prepared when marketing the property, so retaining and reusing the buildings is viable, and would offer a much better setting for the listed asset.
The embedded carbon in the buildings must be very high, and it would be a shame to see it all gone to waste as the site is cleared. Sadly this is still not a consideration in planning decisions.
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle is the mantra attached to the use of plastics. Why not for buildings too?
Wapping School, Bradford
Derelict school to be demolished in Bradford:
Photo: Telegraph and Argus
Although grade II listed, this 1877 building is in ruin and will be demolished to make way for a new college. At this stage it is understandable that the building is beyond salvage, and having become a node for antisocial behaviour, will be cleared. The developer (LIFE Church) has made attempts to salvage some of the stone work and one of the gable ends of the building, but in reality the essence of the Victorian School will be gone.
The building should have never been allowed to fall into this state, and we need to look for innovative solutions for the reuse of our more nuanced Victorian heritage assets. Schools, mills, churches, and pubs are all problematic in re-purposing, yet there are heritage champions out there that need to be facilitated by local authorities to invest and develop such buildings.
The massing promises to reflect the existing building, but this will only result in a pastiche development. This development being an educational facility I imagine a process of value engineering will negate any attempts to be sensitive with building materials. There is no way around it – this is another beautiful Victorian school lost to history.
Clocktower, Lockwood, Huddersfield
Application to demolish the clocktower at the former Mount Pleasant School:
The school was redeveloped following the demolition of the Victorian school building (the powers that be unable to differentiate between shoddy facilities and dilapidated interior, and an important robust vernacular building).
Yet Kirklees have slyly slipped this application in a few days before Christmas. No one will notice that right? Yes, absolutely we will notice.
The tower was initially thought to be saved after a hard fought campaign. However the building was rejected from listing status due to the incomplete nature of the site, however historic England recommended a local listing. I doubt such a mechanism actually exists in Lockwood.
Old Westgate Redoubt building, Snapethorpe
Plans by the council to demolish an outbuilding of Snapethorpe Primary School:
Forgive the terrible photo from Google Earth’s Streetview archives circa 2012.
Some local objection to this proposal that coherently cites the councils own policy:
http://savelupsetgreenfields.homeip.net/node/544
Death, Taxes, and local authorities not adhering to their own policies are the only certainties in life.
A handsome building that will be a loss to the visual fabric of the area. Not worthy of listing, never the less it is the kind of building I dream of inheriting from a long lost uncle and spending the rest of my life as custodian.
Incidentally, the argument that a building has to be demolished because it has been “regularly targeted by vandals and trespasser’s” is an old and hackneyed cliche in the planning consultant’s armory. Misdemeanors do not necessitate flattening the site and starting over.
Christ Church Primary Academy
Demolition of a school building in Shipley:
Demolition does not require full planning permission, but rather a demolition notice, so this has been progressed with alacrity.
A nice looking building that looks to be in good condition, but as the officers report suggests, way off English Heritage’s radar.
The centralized position on the site would make any redevelopment difficult should someone want to capitalise on the full footprint, and as such there was no chance conservation would have been contemplated.
The rest of the school will presumably stay open.
At this point, as the people tell me I am an overly zealous heritage obsessive, I remind them that this type of building can NEVER be built again.
The Demolition Register 