A BRADFORD based charity will be moving into one of the most prominent empty buildings in the city centre.

Christians Against Poverty, currently based in Little Germany, will soon be moving into 1 Filey Street, a large office building on the junction of Leeds Road and Shipley Airedale Road.

The building, which until recently used to be the call centre for Yorkshire Building Society, is currently vacant, and has been on the market for some time.

Christians Against Poverty have snapped up the property after a hunt for more suitable headquarters in the city, and plans to move 400 staff into the building.

The charity is currently based in two buildings in Little Germany, Jubilee Mill and Jubilee Centre - but says these converted heritage buildings no longer meet the needs of the expanding organisation.

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Christians Against Poverty was founded in 1996 by Bradford resident John Kirkby and offers advice and support to people on the breadline and in debt.

Over the past two decades the charity has grown from just a handful of staff to over 400 people being employed at their headquarters.

A spokesman said the two Little Germany buildings provided "significant challenges."

They said: "Jubilee Mill and Jubilee Centre no longer meet our needs as an organisation. While we love Jubilee Mill, attempting to reconfigure the building to match our unique and growing needs has proven not to be financially sustainable.

"Even with the increase in hybrid and remote working, it’s still really important for us to have a suitable site for our staff to work together now and in the future, so that we can continue to deliver help to our clients and equip churches to transform their local communities.

"Having looked carefully at all the options, we found that the best way forward was to relocate, preferably into one single building with better accessibility for all, including, importantly, disability access.

"And, praise God, we found a building that met these needs, within our budget, and still in our home town of Bradford."

The Charity recently submitted a planning application for the Filey Street office building. It would allow them to bike storage, solar panels, new lighting and signage, car charging points and a social area outside the building.

Referring to the move, it says: "The aim is to provide a fun, friendly and efficient head office that will be suitable for CAP for the next 10+ years."

The charity's Jubilee Centre on Scott Hill is also used by the Light Church, which runs the Bradford Central Foodbank and other services from the building.

Last year the church was awarded a Government grant of £225,000 to purchase the building after CAP vacate it - securing the future of the foodbank.

The land next to the office building is also soon to be redeveloped. Last year a planning application to build industrial units on the long vacant former Eastbrook Mills site, submitted by C Bambage, were approved by Bradford Council.