Urban regeneration specialist Artisan Real Estate is redeveloping an 11-acre site on the edge of the Salts Mills World Heritage Site in Saltaire, Shipley. The site, sandwiched between the River Aire and the Leeds & Liverpool Canal, was formerly home to an HMRC office complex but that closed in October 2021.
Saltaire Riverside will comprise 289 homes plus 5,000 sqft of commercial space and a riverside park.
Demolition of the existing buildings on site, which mainly consist of two large five-storey hexagonal office blocks, is expected to be completed in the coming six weeks. This will be followed by ground preparation works in advance of construction. Material from the demolition will be recycled and used to raise the levels of the site as part of flood defence works that will follow the demolition programme.
Artisan Real Estate managing director James Bulmer said: “Our local contractor, Metropolitan, has been doing excellent work of taking down the existing buildings, and we will soon be moving to processing materials which will be crushed and recycled for re-use on site as part of the forthcoming construction project. We are now hosting regular design team meetings, working on the detailed technical drawing requirements needed to turn our ambitious vision into a reality. Our commercial teams will shortly be going out to tender to find suitable trade subcontractors to partner with for the project.”
Metropolitan managing director Michael Hirst added: “This has been a great project for Metropolitan. The former HMRC building was a substantial reinforced concrete structure, but our highly skilled teams have been effective, diligent and professional throughout. Artisan is an important client to us and we are working with them on multiple developments across England and Scotland.”
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