Extra £850k needed to transform eyesore
COUNCIL WILL HAVE TO STUMP UP MORE CASH TO FINISH PROJECT
CASH-STRAPPED city councillors are being told they need to find another £850,000 to transform a long-standing eyesore in Beverley Road.
They have already earmarked Lottery funding to help meet most of the cost of carrying out facelift work to two derelict properties in the middle of a Victorian parade of shops and flats known as Brunswick Arcade.
The central section of the parade was cloaked in emergency scaffolding by the council six years ago, amid concerns that it could collapse.
Subsequent fears over the privately owned building’s stability led the council to take the unusual step of buying the scaffolding for £200,000 as it worked out cheaper than leasing it.
Internal scaffolding was later added before planning approval for the facelift scheme was granted in 2018.
A tender notice was advertised by the council earlier this year for a contract to demolish and rebuild the fire-damaged building, which dates back to 1890.
It covered the proposal to create new retail units on the ground floor and apartments above on three upper floors.
Advertised with a value of £2m, the contract also required the successful bidder to construct the front elevation of the property as if it were a listed property to comply with a National Heritage Lottery grant secured for the project.
The funding is part of a long-term Lottery-backed regeneration scheme involving historic properties along Beverley Road.
At the time, it was envisaged the 13-month contract would start in October this year. However, a new report published by the council has revealed yet another delay in what has become a long-running saga.
It includes brief details of a new request by officers for the approval of an additional £850,000 to allow “essential works” to be carried out at the property.
It says: “We are now poised to award a contract to undertake the proposed works.
“The scheme tendered includes all the works needed to permanently address the structural problems with the adjoining buildings and provides us with a permanent end use of residential and retail.
“Following a full and open competitive tender process to deliver the council’s intentions, we now have a funding gap of £850,000.”
A decision on the extra funding is expected to be made under delegated powers by council leader Steve Brady next month after a consultation with ward councillors.