Bradford's new city centre village has been launched with a bang - as two companies reveal plans for multi-million pound housing schemes.

Lift-off has come for historic Little Germany only hours after it was officially designated as one of Britain's first urban villages.

Boost number one has come with landmark Treadwell Mill's sale to a company which wants to convert it into a £5 million complex containing 26 flats.

The lower floors would be caf/bars and the buyer, Leeds-based Landmark Development Projects Ltd, is in talks with the Council about providing more homes in a new purpose-built unit in the nearby car park. The company also hopes to provide a multi-storey car park on the site.

Managing director Kenneth Morton said the company was seeking some funding from Yorkshire Forward towards the major scheme.

But he said he was confident of it going ahead and had just bought the historic building, which has stood empty for years, for a quarter of a million pounds.

And in a second boost, the former owner of the village's showpiece Design Exchange is taking over the former Silens Works in Peckover Street to transform it into high quality loft apartments with birds' eye views across the city. The development will cost about £1.5 million.

The plans for the former merchants' quarter of the city were greeted as a huge shot in the arm by a partnership company which has been set up to breathe new life to the jewel in the city's crown.

Little Germany's first residents who already have flats in a restored mill in Currer Street also welcomed the news as a big step in the right direction.

Frank Romanowski, 35, who has lived in Little Germany for three years said: "It can only be good. The more people the better. It's about time."

Peter Connelly, managing director of Yorkshire Design Partnership which plans to carry out the Silens Works development, said: "I am putting my money where my mouth is and I am absolutely confident that Little Germany can succeed. It is going to happen and things are going to change."

His company developed the Design and Innovation Centre in a run-down part of Leeds which was formerly a haunt of prostitutes. He said the area of The Calls was now smart and sought after, and the tide had turned through vision and effort.

Both companies say their planning applications will be submitted to Bradford Council shortly.

Nigel Rice, project manager for the non-profit making private company set up to spearhead the revival of Little Germany, said: "I am delighted that two developers from Leeds are coming into Bradford. It reflects the increasing confidence of Little Germany."

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