Victorian mill in Yorkshire to be transformed under £5.8m refurbishment plans

A planning application for the refurbishment of Garden Mills, off Thornton Road, has been submitted to Bradford Council by the building’s owners, Bradford College. The five-storey building is currently “mothballed” and used for storage, but late last year Government announced that the college would be one of many across the country to be awarded cash to boost their facilities.

Bradford College was one of just a handful to receive the maximum amount of £5.8m. The newly submitted planning application is for the full refurbishment of the building and the creation of an enclosure for air source heat pumps, which will be used to heat the Victorian building and replace the mill’s current gas fired boilers.

In 2020, a planning application to convert the mill and neighbouring Junction Mills into luxury flats was approved by Bradford Council, but work on the residential conversion never began, and both buildings remain unused.

The work to Garden Mills will enhance Bradford College’s existing STEM science and digital facilities located in the college’s more modern buildings – David Hockney Building and Advanced Technology Centre, both on Great Horton Road.

Plans include two new flexible science laboratories, a prep-room, six higher education digital IT labs, an ophthalmic dispensing suite, clinical suite, a real-life work environment with consulting/testing booths, and a collaboration space alongside academic teaching spaces.

The mill lies next to one of the few open stretches of Bradford Beck in the city centre.

Originally used as a textile factory, the Garden Mills has fallen out of use in recent years due to “accessibility issues and unreliability of the electrical and mechanical services” – according to the college.

The planning application for the development adds: “The existing Garden Mills building is in poor condition, with ageing building fabric, life expired services and tired internal finishes. Due to this, although the mill has historically been used for teaching purposes, the building is currently largely mothballed and used for storage.”

Chris Webb, CEO and Principal of Bradford College, said: “The Bradford College Garden Mills project is an exciting development that will create cutting-edge facilities for higher-level STEM teaching in one impressive five-storey building. Digital, science, and allied health professions will gain a flexible training environment to accommodate expected growth in the industry.”

A decision on the application is expected in June.