A refuge for homeless people has been forced to close for at least a month so health and safety work can be carried out on the building.

The Place at St Mary's will be shut for work to update the building to meet fire, electrical and food hygiene standards.

The decision to close the drop-in centre, based in a church hall next to St Mary's Church in Barkerend Road, was taken by parish priest Father John Abberton following a meeting of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Leeds.

He said there were a number of problems to deal with, but the refuge, which is used mainly by people who are homeless and/or have drink and mental health problems, will definitely reopen - and may be expanded.

The Place was launched in Christmas 2001 and opened every Friday to provide food, drink and shelter for around 40 people. It was one of three homeless organisations in Bradford which received cash from national charity Street-Smart. The cash was raised from a campaign, backed by the Telegraph & Argus, involving diners at Bradford restaurants adding £1 to their bills for the homeless. More than £6,000 was raised in Bradford. The three organisations received £2,070 each.

Father Abberton said the closure followed concerns from the property manager of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Leeds. "We have to consider the health and safety of those using the project," he said. "We have already done some work to improve floor surfaces which could cause someone to trip, and to deal with a rat problem. We also have problems with the electrics and the kitchen does not meet food safety standards."

Father Abberton is now setting up a management committee to co-ordinate the work needed to improve the building, and plans to extend the service when it reopens.

He said: "It is difficult to say exactly when the project will reopen, as it will depend on getting the management committee in place and funds. I would urge people to be positive about this. We want the project to develop."

The Place co-ordinator Dr Jackie Hughes said: "We are trying to work along with the church and have to respect their concerns about health and safety issues. It seems things would be less restricting if the hall was to be simply used for 'parish' business for now. With us having an open-door policy, we need to work within broader health and safety guidelines, especially if we want to open another 24-hour refuge next Christmas."

Dr Hughes said the StreetSmart cash had enabled the refuge team to plan ahead.

"We can plan a little for the coming 12 months," she said. "This is a service-user-inspir-ed and -led facility. What we provide is what people require or feel comfortable with.

"We've also had fantastic support, in the way of goods and service, from the Mother Teresa Co-orkers both in Yorkshire and as far away as Grange-over-Sands. We're hoping to maintain links with them when we re-open."

The refuge will re-open with an exhibition of art done by people using it. The exhibition will run as part of the Bradford Festival this summer.

"There is still space for contributions when we re-open," said Dr Hughes.