AN arts and community centre can undergo a major refurbishment and remodelling after the proposals impressed heritage officers.

The plans for South Square Centre in Thornton have been approved by Bradford Council, with officers saying the works will ensure that the Grade II listed building “is kept well maintained and secure for many more years.”

The building is made up of a dozen 1820s workers’ cottages surrounding a courtyard, and was saved, re-purposed as a community facility and re-opened in the 1980s.

It now hosts art exhibitions, concerts, community events and is home to a number of businesses.

Earlier this year the centre was granted Heritage Lottery funding to carry out a major refurbishment of the building, including the replacement of its damaged roof, replacing ancient windows and fixing poor quality guttering.

Work would also be done to improve accessibility to the building, including adding wider doors and lifts to upper floors, so more of the community would be able to access all areas.

Bradford receives £2 million funding from Arts Council England

A planning application for the works was submitted and has now been approved.

It means the trust that runs the building, which is in the process of taking over the lease from Bradford Council, can now apply for further grants to allow the almost £1m of work to go ahead.

In a report that led to the plans being approved, Bradford Council heritage officer H Meekings said: "The repair works to the historic fabric of the building will ensure that the building is kept well maintained and secure for many more years.

“The insulation of the roof and the repair of the windows, including the use of secondary glazing will enhance the thermal efficiency of the building.

“The works are well considered and utilise good practice – reusing existing materials, retaining historic and original fabric and repairing as much as possible and where new fabric is required this is to match the existing.”

They said work to make the building more accessible was “well considered and will result in minimal impact on the external appearance of the building.”

The Heritage Lottery Funding will pay for around £560,000 of the building’s estimated £946,000 refurbishment costs.

After the plans were approved Yvonne Carmichael from South Square said: “We’re impressed everything went through so fast. We can now do the rest of the fundraising. We’re now progressing into the next stage of funding.

“We’ll find out if we get the next round of funding in March. We’re looking at funding from the Arts Council and other trusts. We couldn’t apply for these funds until we had planning permission in place.

“The heritage officer recognised what we were doing and how we were being quite sensible about any changes that were needed for accessibility.”

She hopes the work done by the group will provide a good example for other groups looking to take on Council facilities as part of community asset transfers.

If funding does progress, then the refurbishment works could start next year.