Defence Online

A preferred design has been unveiled for a potential new restaurant or bar planned for the shell of a historically significant Leeds building which was built in 1711.The First White Cloth Hall (FWCH) on Lower Kirkgate was constructed in response to news that a covered cloth market was to be built in Wakefield in a bid to tempt trade of undyed cloth away from Leeds.The hall was a huge success and Leeds’ dominance in the cloth trade was assured, creating the conditions for the city’s growth and prosperity from then on.Listed in the 1980s, the site, now essentially a shell, has been in a poor condition for many years and is on Historic England’s At Risk Register the potential for further rapid deterioration.A scheme to regenerate the wider Lower Kirkgate area secured £1.5m from the Heritage Lottery Fund in 2012, with £500,000 ring-fenced for the FWCH. A further £250,000 of grant funding is available from Historic England.Now a scheme by conservation-accredited architects’ firm Buttress, appointed by Leeds City Council in 2014, is to be showcased at a pre-application presentation today. The design would introduce a central glazed atrium, making the building more attractive to tenants by introducing flexibility to the circulation and extending the trading hours for the internal courtyard.According to property advisers working on the scheme, potential bar, restaurant or leisure occupiers would prefer a larger floor area in an enclosed square rather than an open “U” shape.Alongside the glazed atrium, it is also envisaged that the west wing of the building would be re-instated to its pre- demolition form as would the arcading to the inner courtyard.The Kirkgate frontages would be repaired and retained while a modern rainscreen treatment would be introduced for the southern elevationFollowing the presentation, the next stage of the project would be to undertake detailed design which would develop the preferred option to full planning/listed building consent application stage.