The UK’s largest printed concrete structure has been installed in Scotland, the New Civil Engineer reports. The printed staircase will provide access to the Sighthill Bridge, a new cycle and pedestrian bridge across the M8 in Glasgow, which will create a sustainable transport link to the city centre.
A series of inspiring regeneration plans for Bradford city centre have been announced, with the aim of transforming the look and feel of the area, and attracting more visitors. The Telegraph & Argus reports that the multi-million pound schemes should also encourage more economic activity through business investment and foreign students.
The unloved Kirkgate Shopping Centre has been purchased by the council, and will be demolished to make way for residential developments, open green spaces, and smaller commercial units. The brutalist concrete structure was built in 1976, and at the time it was hailed as an example of futuristic architecture.
The changes in shopping habits over recent years mean that many of the retail units in the centre are now closed. The remaining major outlets, such as Primark, New Look, and Sports Direct, will move over the next two years to The Broadway shopping centre, which contains a mixture of high street brands and independent stores.
The regeneration scheme is based around the concept of creating a ‘city village’, which is an attractive place for families and young professionals to live. There are plans for 1,000 new homes in the city centre, which will include a good mixture of sizes and bedroom numbers. There will also be some high-spec student accommodation built.
A new five storey grade A office building will be constructed at the Mirror Pool, near to the magistrate’s court. This is expected to create 450 permanent new jobs in the city, as well as 30 temporary jobs during the construction process.
Care will also be taken to conserve the historic nature of Bradford’s many fine buildings. For example, the Grade II listed Old Building on Great Horton Road will be converted into a mixture of private and student accommodation. The grand building dates from the 1930s, and was once used by Bradford College.
The building has some beautiful carved stonework on the exterior, and inside much of the original ornate plasterwork and stained-glass windows remain. The developers plan to incorporate the vintage features into a conversion of 190 apartments.
Aurangzeb Iqbal, of Citywide Developments, said: “We deliberately went for one, two and three bed apartments. Foreign students often have a lot of money, and their families want them to have a fantastic experience while they are studying. We want them to go back and tell people ‘You’ve got to go to Bradford.’”
Bradford has been chosen as the UK City of Culture 2025, beating off competition from Durham, Southampton, and Wrexham. Lee Craven, director of Bradford Live, a new arts venue in the city, said the initiative shown by the new schemes helped to secure the win.
He said: “This is a good example, I think, of the city not just hanging around waiting for somebody to throw it a few crumbs. It’s actually investing in its future. I think that helped to swing it – the fact that the city was already investing – wasn’t just assuming things would fall its way, we’re going to build our way, invest our way out.”
Bradford Live will redevelop the Odeon Theatre into a live music venue, with new bar areas.
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Leeds City Council have submitted six separate bids to round two of the Levelling up Fund, totalling £120.8m. The funds, if granted, will be used for a variety of projects to improve the infrastructure, high streets, parks, and local economies across six constituencies which make up the Leeds region.
The council have pledged to add £8.7m from their own funding, plus £56.3m from partners and grants, should the bids be successful. This could see a total of £186m of investment, which will enhance local communities, and breathe new economic activity into the more deprived areas of the city.
Councillor Helen Hayden, executive member for infrastructure and climate, said: “The six bids that we have submitted to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, offer a unique opportunity for the department to deliver meaningful transformation, driving economic growth forward and tackling health and wellbeing inequalities.”
She added: “As a council we are committed to working with the government on all six projects to help transform local areas and I believe all six projects will if successful will make a real difference to residents across Leeds”.
In Holbeck in central Leeds, there are plans to transform the local community centre, and make eco-friendly repairs and retrofits to existing buildings. There are also plans to create a more sustainable transport system, with dedicated bus and cycle lanes, and more walking routes to connect different areas of the city.
The outcome of the bids is expected to be announced by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities alongside the Autumn statement. Simon Clark, MP for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland, is the new head of the department, following a cabinet reshuffle by PM Liz Truss.
He replaces Greg Clark, MP for Tunbridge Wells, who had been in office for two months.
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A loophole in VAT laws could mean that some of Scotland’s best period buildings could be destroyed rather than restored, the Chartered Institute of Building (CIB) reports. Despite the growing awareness of the environmental benefits of retrofitting and renovating buildings rather than demolishing them, the current tax rules don’t offer any incentive.
According to CIB, the standard 20% VAT applies to a restoration project, but not to a demolition and new-build project. This means that developers have no financial incentive to preserve vintage buildings, which in many cases have stood the test of time, and could be restored at moderate cost in more eco-friendly process than a full new build.
The issue is particularly vexatious in Scotland, because devolved administrations have no control over UK-wide VAT rules. There are fears that some of the architectural heritage of the nation may be lost, as well as chance to create a greener and more sustainable construction sector.
Jocelyne Fleming, CIOB policy & public affairs officer for Scotland, and author of the paper said: “We hear about the need to move away from a throw-away society and upcycle and recycle when it comes to things like clothes and furniture, and this needs to be extended to buildings too.”
She added: “It’s not only about the environment though – some wonderful Scottish buildings could also be reduced to rubble and lost forever just because it’s cheaper to knock them down than renovate them, and that would be a travesty.”
“However, at a time when businesses are often making decisions based mainly on cost, it needs to be as financially viable to restore as to demolish if we’re to improve the sustainability of construction and help Scotland reach its net zero targets.”
Some retrofitting measures, such as for energy saving improvements, have been VAT exempt since April 2022. However, the rule still does not apply to larger scale renovation projects.
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