Plans submitted for Bradford’s ambitious ‘City Village’
Plans have been submitted for the first phase of the new sustainable community known as ‘City Village,’ which will transform Bradford’s former commercial core into a thriving new city centre neighbourhood.
Bradford City Village, which is being delivered by ECF (the partnership between Homes England, L&G and Muse) and Bradford Council, is proposed to be built across the ‘Top of Town’ area, which includes the Oastler, Kirkgate and Chain Street sites.
City Village will create up to 1,000 modern, energy-efficient homes including affordable housing. It will build on the area’s existing successful independent traders, introducing new opportunities for retail, leisure and business spaces.
Plans also include new high-quality public space including three new landscaped, green spaces which will complement recently completed improvements as part of the award-winning Bradford City Centre Walking and Cycling Improvement Scheme – creating a safer, greener and better-connected city centre.
Plans for Phase One include:
The creation of 33 townhouses on the Chain Street site, centred around a new community green. Featuring a mix of two and three-bedroom homes designed to suit a range of household sizes and needs, each with designated parking space.
A further 64 two and three-bedroom townhouses on the northern Oastler site, arranged around a series of courtyards and green spaces, each with designated parking space.
Supporting infrastructure including safer roads, landscaped public spaces and active travel routes that promote walking and cycling to help create a sustainable community with health and wellbeing at its heart.
Earlier this year, Bradford-based affordable housing provider, Incommunities, was selected as ECF’s preferred funding partner to deliver the first phase of townhouses for sale and rent, subject to a final legal agreement.
Later phases of the City Village neighbourhood will include more than 300 apartments on the southern half of the Oastler site, alongside approximately 400 apartments on the Kirkgate site.
This major regeneration opportunity is part of wider plans to unleash the full economic potential of Bradford. The district – currently the UK City of Culture 2025 – has attracted an unprecedented level of investment into its transport and public infrastructure, as well as major capital developments including the recently launched Darley Street Market and Bradford Live music venue. City Village shows the direction of the city centre for the next ten years – quality housing, more public spaces and balancing retail against other uses that will bring more people into the city centre.
Over the last 18 months, ECF has been working with Bradford Council to develop the plans, following extensive public consultation and engagement with hundreds of local people.
Bradford City Village has already secured major inward investment, including £13.2 million in-principle funding from the West Yorkshire Combined Authority, a strategic partner which is helping to make the scheme a reality, alongside £30 million of Government funding via Homes England.
The wider project team for Bradford City Village includes 5plus Architects, re-form Landscape Architecture, Avison Young, Cushman & Wakefield and Turner & Townsend.