WORK to improve “failing” sections of a town centre building could see brought back into full use.

New Devonshire House on Devonshire Street in Keighley is a five storey, 1970s building that was once office space for West Yorkshire Police.

It is now a mix of office space and residential – including a penthouse flat worth £950,000.

A planning application to clad the west façade of the building has been submitted to Bradford Council.

Applicant Shillelagh Property says the work is needed to the poor quality of the rendering on this section of the office block.

The application says: “Over time this rendered finish has been replaced and repaired many times, but continues to fail resulting in a porous west façade and rain.

“This building failure now means that many areas within the building can no longer be let out.

“We propose to clad the entire west façade facing towards Devonshire Street with an insulated aluminium composite cladding system to better waterproof this façade and enable all the building floor space to be utilised again.

“The insulated system will also greatly improve the buildings’ thermal efficiency, in turn leading to more affordable rental costs.”

A decision on the application is expected in April.