Present at the start of work today - from left to right
Front row – Cllr Eric Firth, Cllr Cathy Scott, Matt Mason (Roebuck & Holmes)
Back row – Daryl Le-Vine (Martin Walsh Architectural), John Lambe (Dewsbury Townscape Heritage Initiative Officer), Graham Wilson (Roebuck & Holmes), Will Senior (Roebuck & Holmes).
The Dewsbury Townscape Heritage Initiative has been the source of grant funding announced today for the restoration of two more buildings within Dewsbury town centre, one at 28-30 Northgate on the corner of Queensway Arcade and the second at 19 Foundry Street.
Kirklees Council have awarded the grants through the Dewsbury Townscape Heritage Initiative (THI), which is a partnership between the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) and the Council.
28-30 Northgate
28-30 Northgate will be restored to its former name of Northgate Chambers in Queensway Arcade and will receive replacement shopfronts at ground level and restoration of the building fabric.
Recent state of Northgate Chambers
Planned renovation
There will also be a full restoration of existing timber mouldings; stained glass features, stone pilasters, and original detailing. Originally known as ‘Northgate Chambers’, the name will be embossed in stone and reinstated onto the front of the building.
19 Foundry Street.
Work funded by THI has previously been carried out on Corporation Street to the shop fronts of Simply Mobile, Sweet and Salted cafe and Pizza GoGo - which now look much improved over their previous condition.
However, like many town centre retail spaces they have space on the upper floors which is often neglected and can go to waste. In this case, full use is being made of the first floor and a grant will now support the creation of two one-bedroom-flats above the ground floor retail spaces adding more local residents to help bring the town centre back to life.
In fact, the entry to these flats will be the prominent entry door on the right giving an address at 19, Foundry Street. The iconic corner turret will also be improved with stained glass added to create a novel and unique feature in the town centre.
Restoration Work By Dewsbury Architects
The design work for both projects is being undertaken by Dewsbury architects, Martin Walsh Architectural who have previously carried out work on Northgate House, which many will remember as The Old Gas Showrooms while the restoration work will be carried out by Roebuck & Holmes.
Daryl Le-Vine of Martin Walsh Architectural commented:
MWA has been based in Dewsbury for over 40 years so being awarded this contract means a great deal.
Our understanding of the town’s quality architecture and our experience of heritage sites helped to secure our role in this exciting, transformational project and we are really looking forward to the restoration of some of Dewsbury’s most iconic buildings and street scenes.
Daryl Le-Vine Chartered Architect
With grant funding coming from the heritage fund, the brief for the architects is to design and manage the external and internal restoration, bringing each building back to their original condition and staying true to their original form.
The area covered by the Dewsbury Townscape Heritage Initiative
The Dewsbury Townscape Heritage Initiative was originally a 5 year programme with £3.7 million pounds available with £1.7million coming from Kirklees Council and £2 million from the Heritage Lottery Fund. The programme has now been extended to end in December 2019 in order to complete all the projects currently in the pipeline.