Ambitious plans for a world-class textiles archive in Bradford are gathering pace thanks to a £1.4 million grant from the European Regional Development Fund.

The archive, set to open in spring 2007, could attract designers from New York, Paris and Milan and add to the continuing renaissance of Yorkshire textiles.

The collection, which will contain the biggest pool of design materials in the world, is likely to be housed in Salts Mill at Saltaire. Design books from famous artists such as Salvador Dali and William Morris will be on display.

The project has been masterminded by Gary Hiley of the Bradford-based Confed-eration of British Wool Textiles and influential industry figure Edward Stanners, who chairs the Textiles For-ward group.

Mr Stanners said: "This will be some-thing big for Bradford. We have the money to do it and we have widespread support throughout Britain. Speaking to people across the country, there is a perception that this archive should go into a textile region and ideally Bradford because it's still seen as the home of the industrial revolution. It will be a national resource, but it will be ideally situated for the people of Bradford."

Mr Stanners said a lot of the material was already stored in warehouses and mills across the district. "It will be a national archive which can be used as an educational tool to heighten awareness among schoolchildren that there are a lot of job opportunities in designing," he said.

The archive was originally going to be at Lister's Mill in Manningham, but it would have taken too long to get the facility up and running there, according to Mr Hiley.

He said: "We are now in discussions with Salts Estates and they seem very enthusiastic. This won't just be a dusty old archive. We will create a contemporary space with lots of different uses.

"Patterns and designs are usually con-tained within old books but we will digitise them so people can access them in a computer suite, then they can go into the storage space and get out designs they like.

"We will also have a gallery with changing themes because, in the textiles industry, fashions change very quickly."

The venture will include research facilities and workshop units for new textiles entrepreneurs. The Yorkshire Craft Centre, in Bradford College, will donate its extensive archive.

e-mail: will.kilner@bradford.newsquest.co.uk