One of Bradford’s most divisive buildings is almost ready to re-open after years of standing vacant.
High Point on Westgate towers over the city skyline, with its brutalist design splitting opinion.
Built-in the 1970s as the headquarters for the Huddersfield and Bradford Building Society, the building has been empty for over a quarter of a century.
But over the past few years, work to convert the brutalist building into an 87-apartment residential scheme has been underway, and the mammoth project is now almost complete.
The new development includes a gym, coffee bar for residents and communal lounge and work areas on the ground floor.
When it was built, High Point was one of Bradford’s most expensive building projects, costing £1.4m – over £18m in today’s money.
It was designed in the then-popular brutalist style and was seen as a beacon of modernity in post-industrial Britain.
But since the building was vacated it has acted more as a symbol of Bradford’s decline – and for years there have been questions about its future.
But developer Adam Sims saw the potential in the building, and his plans to convert it into an apartment building were first revealed in 2020.
The plans were given a boost when West Yorkshire Combined Authority awarded a £2.9m Bradford Heritage Buildings grant to help the project get off the ground.
The redevelopment has cost over £11m, and is now just weeks from completion.
Mr Sims said turning the brutalist office block into flats was one of the most difficult projects he had taken on, highlighting the thick concrete throughout the building, the unusual brutalist design and windows that required angle grinders to remove being among the issues that most normal developments do not pose.
Mr Sims’ other developments have included Hume house, an apartment building in Leeds, and the Grattan Studios development in Bradford.
He said: “This has been one of the most difficult projects I’ve ever taken on. It has been three years of blood, sweat and tears.
“This development is about affordable, luxury housing.”
High Point will soon find itself in the middle of Bradford’s “City Village” – a residential redevelopment that will see empty sites in the city centre replaced with homes.
The Oastler Market site in the shadow of High Point – due to close when Darley Street Market opens, will be among the sites to be cleared to make way for homes.
He hopes the development helps inspire the regeneration of other city centre buildings.
Fittings and furniture in the building have been inspired by High Point’s architecture and history, with Mr Sims saying: “We wanted to keep it authentic.”
He said the flats would be available for rent at around £690 a month.
Nadia Rehman of Bayj Studio helped design the project. She used to work in the city centre and said she would regularly walk past the building and dream about what could be done with it.
She said: “A lot of people find the building unattractive, but I think it’s beautiful.
“The design of the inside has been inspired by the existing architecture and its brutalism.
“It is such a great place for people to set up their lives.”
This thinking is reflected in the neon sign at the top of the property, which says “City of Dreams.”
Mr Sims said: “This was a building that was built to last.”
The company would not be selling any of the flats, meaning they will have greater control over who lives in High Point.
Referring to the funding from WYCA he said: “That £2.9m really made a difference, if we didn’t have that there was no way we could have done this.
Mrs Rehman added: “This development is a story of optimism, it is emblematic of Bradford and what can be done here.”
The development will be known as Radii – the plural of radius – to reflect the “all-round living” concept.
Many of the rooms have windows that overlook the city centre, with some of the flats on the upper floor offering views as far as Ilkley Moor and Calderdale.
Filters have been fitted throughout the building to provide fresh air in a city dominated by cars, and there is also air conditioning throughout.
