Bradford Council has appointed English Cities Fund (ECF), a partnership between Morgan Sindall’s placemaking subsidiary Muse with Homes England and Legal & General, as preferred developer for its City Village scheme.
Bradford City Village is set to deliver up to 1,000 new homes, along with shops, cafes, restaurants, offices and open spaces, on the site of the current Oastler and Kirkgate shopping centres.
The council’s executive board also approved plans to enter into a grant funding agreement with Homes England, the government’s housing and regeneration agency, to release £29.9m of provisional brownfield infrastructure & land (BIL) funding, subject to final Homes England approval before the end of this year.
The funding will be used to make improvements to the road network and public spaces, as well as support the demolition of the two shopping centres. The Oastler demolition is set to start in summer 2025 and will enable the future regeneration opportunity to come forward. It is hoped the initial BIL funding will also help attract further investment to unlock future phases of the masterplan, which would completely transform Bradford city centre.
ECF has already been working with Bradford Council for the past 18 months to develop a masterplan. It has now been formally approved as the council’s preferred development partner. The next step is to work up a planning application, which is expected to be submitted in spring 2025.
Bradford’s lead councillor for regeneration, transport and planning, Alex Ross-Shaw, said: “This is part of a much bigger picture of regeneration across Bradford as our current regeneration programme like One City Park, Darley Street Market and the pedestrianisation works start to complete. City Village is the next big regeneration programme and will re-define the centre of Bradford. It shows the direction of the city centre for the next ten years – quality housing, more public and green spaces and safer streets to create the quality of city centre living that Bradford needs and deserves.
“Our vision is to create a healthy, sustainable and community-friendly neighbourhood. While housing is at the heart of these plans, City Village will also create opportunities for new independent retail, cafes, bars and business spaces. Bringing more homes into the city centre will also increase custom for the existing businesses on North Parade, where our recent investment shows what a sustainable, greener high street can look like.”
The wider project team for Bradford City Village includes 5plus Architects, Re-form Landscape Architecture, Avison Young, Cushman & Wakefield and Turner & Townsend.
