WORK is soon to start on a £18.5 redevelopment of a Bradford housing scheme that was designed to be a “utopian estate.”

Once the new homes are built, it will be the third incarnation of the Ripleyville housing development.

A planning application by Accent Housing that would see the 1970s estate of 163 homes demolished and 73 affordable houses built in their place was approved by Bradford Council last month.

 

The last resident left the estate, off Spring Mill Street, in February, and work will soon begin to strip out the existing buildings. Demolition is expected to begin in full within six months.

Accent said there was no realistic way the existing site could have been retrofitted to meet current environmental standards.

Ripleyville dates back to the 1860s, and was designed as an industrial model village built for philanthropist Henry William Ripley, manager of the Bowling Dyeworks.

It included almost 200 workmen’s cottages, a school, church and allotments, with a rail station following in the 1870s.

While some such estates have been protected, this inner city housing area was demolished in the 1970s to create a “new utopian estate creating a range of larger apartments”.

This estate, which is the current incarnation of Ripleyville, adopted the Radburn housing design – homes surrounding communal garden areas and garages, with no through access for cars.

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However the design lent itself to being the perfect layout for people wanting to engage in anti-social behaviour and crime.

And changing demands meant people began to desire private driveways and gardens rather than the shared spaces offered in the estate.

Accent’s Senior Project Manager Andrew Black said: “The buildings as they are would never be able to conform to new environmental standards.

“It will be August or September when people begin to notice all the big demolition machines on site.

“We’re expecting it to take about two or three years, so the homes should be finished around 2025.

“These will be houses with their own gardens and driveways.”

He pointed out that while some model villages, including Saltaire, had been protected as heritage assets, the original Ripleyville had no such protections.

“Saltaire was protected, the original Ripleyville model village is gone.

“This will be the third time this piece of land is developed. This time it will provide much better standards of living. They will be family homes with large space standards.”

He said the homes would be environmentally friendly, and have much better insulation than the 1970s design.

Residents had been relocated from the site over a period of years. Asked whether they were upset with having to move and the loss of their home, Mr Black said: “People didn’t really want to see it stay in this state, but they were nostalgic about their lives here.

“But people all said the estate has had its day.”