MATERIALS from as far as China will be used in the refurbishment of Shipley’s Market Square, a report has revealed.

Granite and other building materials from Italy and Portugal will also be used as part of the multi-million-pound regeneration scheme.

At a meeting on Tuesday evening, councillors will be given an update on the delayed scheme, which is expected to begin early in 2025.

Members of Bradford Council’s Regeneration and Environment Scrutiny Committee will hear that Kelbray Highways Ltd are the preferred company to carry out the work, and will be appointed shortly after the meeting.

The works have been in the planning stages for years, and will see the town’s existing fixed market stalls removed.

The square will be refurbished with more open space, areas of planting and a canopy in the centre – under which new, temporary market stores will operate.

It is hoped that by removing the permanent market stalls, there will be greater scope for regular public events in the square.

The changes will be accompanied by the re-opening of the town centre toilets next to the market square. Work to refurbish the toilets before they are reopened next Summer has already begun.

Earlier this Summer, it was announced that the work to the Market Square was due to begin in August and last until May 2025.

But the start date has since been pushed back to January, with the work unlikely to be completed until November 2025.

Bradford Council has previously said the delays were due to the rising cost of materials.

A report to the Scrutiny Committee says the work has been budgeted as costing £4 million, with funding coming from the Government’s Shipley Towns Fund and West Yorkshire Combined Authority.

Although the contractors have not officially been appointed, the report says work to procure building materials has already begun due to the lengthy delivery period of these materials.

It says: “Due to the length of time taken to complete both the extensive consultation process and subsequent detailed design, estimated scheme costs have increased significantly due a combination of rising inflation and material costs which include continued increases to shipping charges.

“Comprehensive site investigations have been carried out during project development to mitigate unforeseen site condition risk as far as possible.

“Due to long delivery periods for specialist granite and porphyry materials to be used during the construction phase, which will come from China, Italy and Portugal, a separate tender has previously been awarded to the successful bidder arising from a robust procurement process to ensure that all materials will be available for the commencement of the construction and significantly reduce any potential claims for delay.”