chapel street little germany
We were appointed in 2025 by a local Community Benefit Society, People’s Property Portfolio, to develop proposals for a grade II listed building in Little Germany conservation area, Bradford. Formerly the Bradford Resource Centre, the building has a fascinating social and architectural history. It started life as a purpose-built School for the Society of Friends before being extended upwards by two stories and converted into a textile warehouse as Bradford industrialised in the late nineteenth century. It was refurbished as the Resource Centre in the late 1980s but it is now vacant and ready for a heritage-led retrofit to make it viable for the 21st century.
Our proposals will transform the building into a new arts centre with managed workspace for creative practitioners and a public event space for a mixed programme of exhibitions, public talks, music and theatre. We have looked at how the building can be re-organised to re-activate the currently blocked main entrance on the principal façade and enable the accessible event space to be used independently from the main body of the building. The building will be retrofitted to upgrade its thermal performance with a low carbon heating system powered by air source heat pumps located over the event space entrance lobby.
The project received listed building consent and planning permission in January 2026. The client is currently looking for funding partners with the expectation that detailed design will commence in Autumn 2026.