Ilkley is a beautiful, thriving town full of opportunities - and that potential is just what a local architects' firm would like to develop further.

Ilkley resident Richard Addenbrook, the managing director at Sense of Space Architects located on The Grove, believes utilising those opportunities would be a golden opportunity to revitalise the town.

He said: "Ilkley's a lovely place. It's a lovely place to live and is also very affluent. The town has a great opportunities. One is as a tourism venue but people haven't really tapped into that. Another option would be to really piggyback on what's happening in Bradford with the regeneration of the city centre. We're also in the outlying Leeds area so we've got the benefit of putting our foot in both camps."

Committed to playing a part in the town's regeneration, the firm has been working on a number of speculative schemes to increase its potential.

Recently, the team put together a proposal for a continental-style piazza with underground parking, a move that would have put the South Hawksworth Street car park underground with a focus on creating an attractive landscape above.

Mr Addenbrook said: "In terms of regeneration, we feel that the most important thing is to create an attractive town centre."

The firm proposed the multi-million pound scheme early this year but failed to win over councillors who, were concerned about limited car parking space.

Mr Addenbrook said: "It's has taken a back seat in the last few months. We were asked to present it at the end of January and it went reasonably well. I would say we received 50 per cent support from the council. But they seemed to be more concerned about the car park space. That is at the top of their agenda."

Though the plan has yet to gain support from the powers-that-be, the team is not giving up on their dream. They have put together a new scheme with more car park space, which the council is currently considering.

"We still feel strongly about it. Our scheme is a little idealistic but we really believe something like that could get off the ground," said Mr Addenbrook.

The architects have also been working with Yorkshire Forward and believe the agency's Renaissance project to transform and regenerate Yorkshire towns could benefit Ilkley.

On top of that, Mr Addenbrook has many other ideas for the area, including opening up the town to larger retailers.

He said: "There is a demand for larger retailers but there is not enough space. If they opened up some space for larger retailers that would make a difference. If you increase retail space, you increase traffic generation."

What makes Sense of Space such an anomaly in Ilkley is that they are strong believers in supporting the area and are committed to doing that as much as they can.

Mr Addenbrook said: "We as a business try to work mostly with other local businesses whenever possible or Ilkley companies based in other regions. We only employ people locally and we would like to think that other people in the area treat us the same way."