More than £2.5 million will be used to turn a historic Shipley building into an even more vital part of the community.
The Kirkgate Centre in Shipley is based in a former school building dating back to the 1850s. Since the 1970s it has been used as a community centre, but recently the building has been showing its age.
The centre has now secured a £2.51m grant from the Shipley Towns Fund – a £25m pot of regeneration cash awarded to the town by Government.
The money will be used to refurbish the building, build new extensions and make it more energy efficient.
Once work is complete it will be re-opened as a “sustainable community hub” offering services to tackle social isolation, promote well-being, provide activities for families and make cultural and artistic activities accessible for local residents.
The building is used by two charities, Kirkgate Centre and the Hive. The work will allow these two charities to better share the space – as poor insulation currently makes it difficult for one group to hold events in one part of the building without sound travelling.
The two groups have also been awarded a Community Ownership Fund grant of £300,000 to make a Community Asset Transfer of the building possible, meaning they will take over its running from Bradford Council.
John Henkle, from the Kirkgate Centre, said: “It is a beautiful building, but for energy efficiency it is terrible. These changes will make it cheaper to run, and more environmentally friendly.
“You currently can’t use the building as much as we’d like because the noise travels so much. If you have dancing upstairs then you can’t do anything downstairs.”
Joy Hart, from Hive, added: “A lot of time we’re rammed to capacity, so the extra space will allow us to do a lot more.
“There are two separate parts of the building used by the groups, and they’ll be linked by a lift now. At the moment you have to go out and around the building to get to the other part.”
She said the work would help make the centre a bigger focal point for the Shipley community.
A planning application for the work, which will include extensions to the front and back of the building, was recently approved by Bradford Council.
Mike Connors, chair of Shipley Town Council, said: “Kirkgate Centre is a fantastic asset to Shipley. It’s a true community hub offering a huge range of services to all groups in the town.
“The staff here deserve a modernised interior to carry out their brilliant work.”
Councillor Alex Ross-Shaw, Bradford Council’s portfolio holder for regeneration, planning and transport said:
“The Shipley Sustainable Community Hub is an incredible project and one that will give the local community access to a range of important services.
“I look forward to seeing this project develop and ultimately improve the health and wellbeing of local people.”
Adam Clerkin, Chair of the Shipley Towns Fund added: “The intention is that the Kirkgate Centre building, through the custodianship of these two inspiring organisations, becomes a focal point and a catalyst for regeneration and community development.”
Work to repair and fully refurbish the building to make the facilities safe, accessible, comfortable and sustainable for the future is due to finish in summer 2024.
