The developer behind some of Bradford’s biggest regeneration schemes has gone into administration, blaming the “worst market conditions in living memory”.

Asquith Properties is best known for its award-winning Gatehaus residential complex in Leeds Road, flanking Little Germany, but had also received planning permission to create Bradford’s tallest building – the 38-storey Citygate glass tower in Manchester Road.

Russell Baker, managing director of Asquith, said: “The current market conditions have meant that the whole situation has become untenable.

“We have bought the sites and invested heavily but we are left with several plots of land and no chance of starting building on them.

“The economic climate is the worst in living memory. Black Wednesday in 1992 was just a blip compared to this.”

The downturn in the construction industry nationally was highlighted by Office for National Statistics yesterday when it revealed that orders in the three months to July 2008 fell by 22 per cent compared with the previous three month period, with decreases in all sectors except public housing.

Orders in the 12 months to July 2008 fell six per cent compared with the previous 12 months and orders in three months to July 2008 fell by 23 per cent compared with the same period a year earlier.

Mr Baker said Asquith had invested millions of pounds working up its proposals for the Citygate development after winning a developer competition, run by Bradford Trident and Bradford Council in 2006, to build on the site of the Reyner House flats and shops.

Mr Baker said: “We have invested heavily in Citygate but, because of all the things going on there, we have not been able to complete the purchase of the land. The land could not be delivered as we were originally led to believe.”

He said the company had also spent a lot of money carrying out remedial works at the former Foxhill Works scrapyard, in Queensbury, to make way for an £11 million development comprising 47 new homes.

He said: “It’s demoralising and upsetting. We have put our hearts and souls into developing Asquith into a premium company, putting ourselves at the top end of the market, but we are left between a rock and a hard place with nowhere to go.

“Land values have been devastated, it’s impossible to get a mortgage, house prices are down and the banks are not lending for speculative development. If you put all that together, where can we go with all this?”

Mr Baker revealed that he and his business partner Katherine Stacey had invested millions of pounds of their own money trying to keep the company going He added: “We have worked tirelessly for the last eight months trying to avert this. We have always believed in Bradford and we still believe in Bradford. We have invested £40 or £50 million since we started and we were pioneers of city centre living in Bradford, building iconic buildings and trying something different.”

A spokesman for Price Waterhouse Coopers, the administrators, said: “The company has encountered cash flow problems as a consequence of problems with the UK property market and difficulties in raising development finance caused by the credit crunch environment.

“The company’s remaining property and land assets in Bradford and Queensbury will be marketed to recover value for creditors.”

Councillor Adrian Naylor, Bradford Council’s executive member for regeneration, said: “Bradford has not suffered the extremes of oversupply that other cities have.

“While individual companies have different positions in the current economic cycle, the opportunities that Bradford presents are still very real in that developers are keen to get involved.”

A source close to Bradford Council revealed that the Council and Bradford Trident would be holding urgent talks to move the Manchester Road scheme forward.

Other major projects' progress

The progress of Bradford’s other major developments.

  • Gatehaus, Leeds Road, developer Asquith Properties. 120 apartments, £22 million scheme, completed.
  • Eastbrook Hall, Leeds Rd, developer Aldersgate Estates, 73 apartments and office space, £12 million. Nearing completion.
  • Broadway, retail development, developer Westfield. £320 million, planning permission granted, 50 per cent now let and awaiting start date.
  • New Victoria Place, £55 million, developer Langtree Artisan, mixed-use scheme on site of derelict Odeon cinema, planning application expected in autumn
  • Midland Mills, Valley Road, developer Valley Partnership, £35 million, 304 apartments and office space, full planning permission granted.
  • Bradford Channel, Forster Square, mixed-use scheme overlooking canal basin. £350 million, developer Bradford Channel Limited. Outline planning permission granted.
  • Yorkshire Water depot redevelopment, Leeds Road, developer Keyland Developments, cost unknown, mixed-use scheme, planning application submitted.
  • World Mile of specialist interest, connecting city centre with White Abbey Road, steering group formed to take forward the proposal.
  • Listerhills Sustainable Student Village, Hayat Developments, £150 million. Outline planning permission granted and ‘heads of terms’ signed.
  • Park at Heart, a mirror pool park near City Hall, £24.5 million, planning permission granted, alternative funding sources being examined after lottery bid turned down.
  • Relocation of Bradford Magistrates’ Court, £35 million, ‘memorandum of understanding’ signed between Bradford Centre Regeneration and Her Majesty’s Court Service.