THE redevelopment of a Bradford city centre building will need an additional £240,000 of public money to move forward.

The Canal 30 scheme will see 28-32 Canal Road, a warehouse building first constructed in the 1880s, converted into 70 apartments.

The plans have been in the pipeline in one form or the other for over nine years, but work never started despite several planning applications being approved.

In recent years it seemed the ambitious plan would finally get off the ground, with West Yorkshire Combined Authority agreeing to provide cash from its Brownfield Housing Fund.

The fund, provided to WYCA by Government, was set up to kick start housing development on sites that would be too expensive to work on without any public subsidy.

Originally the Authority was due to provide developers Charles Bambage LTD with £1.6million.

But a report going to the Authority on Thursday reveals that rising costs mean the scheme, expected to cost £8.14m, will now require £1.84m from the Brownfield Housing Fund.

The report also reveals that work will start in September and be completed in December 2025.

The work will create over 70 construction jobs in that period.

The four-storey property, which is in the city's Cathedral District Conservation Area, was built in 1884 by the Fattorini family who became famous for providing jewellery to the Queen and other esteemed clients, as well as creating the design for the FA Cup.

The residential conversion had previously been described as a development of “chic, London style apartments” just minutes’ walk from the Broadway Shopping Centre and Forster Square rail station.

The report going before WYCA on Thursday says: “The property has been vacant and underused for decades but is located in the heart of the city centre, surrounded by other buildings that have been successfully regenerated to provide new homes and will make a significant contribution to assisting Bradford Council in achieving its priority objective of delivering more new housing to meet its Local Plan housing target, strengthening the city centre growing residential property market and eventually establishing a new, sustainable city centre residential community.”

It says the increased contribution needed from WYCA, is “a result of increased costs during delivery.”

It adds: “The total scheme costs are £8,144,861 of which £1,840,000 is from the Combined Authority Brownfield Housing Fund, £4,155,000 is a loan from Homes England and £2,149,861 is from developer contributions.”