What is regarded by many as Bradford’s ugliest building is set to be renovated under a new £7 million scheme including a 96-room hotel.
High Point, once the headquarters of the Yorkshire Building Society, will be turned into offices, a restaurant and a hotel under the proposals by property developer Manoj Aggerwal.
Mr Aggerwal, who owns the building, has prepared designs for the scheme with architects Beckwith Design Associates (BDA), based in Little Germany, Bradford.
The plans will be submitted to Bradford Council in the next week before going on public show.
Tony Lupton, managing director of BDA, said: “What we are going to do is take the existing concrete cladding from the High Point, get it back to the steel frame and re-clad it using modern materials.”
The hotel, in Westgate, will be aimed at business people and families on a budget. It will take up the top six floors of the nine-storey building.
Below it will be two floors of offices and a ground floor of restaurants or bars.
A contract will be signed with a major international hotel chain in the next ten days, said Nigel Atkinson for independent hotel management company Then-hospitality. He said independent consultants had identified a “clear need” for such a hotel in the city centre and, if planning is approved, conversion of the High Point will be completed in June.
Mr Atkinson said: “We have done a lot of studies in the city and there has been a lot of talk for many years about regeneration of the city centre. There is a need for a hotel. This could help kick-start the regeneration.”
Plans will go on show at Beckwith Design Associates offices in The Studio, Leeds Road, on Friday, February 13, between 10am and 3pm.
Last month the Telegraph & Argus revealed that Jurys Inns had exchanged contracts on a premium budget hotel in a £45m mixed scheme at the corner of Godwin Street and Thornton Road. That development is expected to create 75 jobs.
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