Bidding to start at £1 for city’s heritage mill gem

ONE OF Leeds’s oldest and most cherished heritage buildings is to be auctioned next month, with a starting price of just £1.

Temple Mill in Holbeck has been listed for sale on December 7 at Leeds United’s Norman Hunter Suite at Elland Road.

A question mark has hung over the fate of the Grade I-listed building, which was built almost 200 years ago in the Egyptian style and is privately owned, in recent months.

Fashion brand Burberry had been given the first option to redevelop the building in addition to nearby land it had bought for several production sites.

This would have involved an overall investment of over £50m which was expected to provide more than 1,000 jobs.

However the manufacturing plans were put on hold after the Brexit referendum last year and the building option was allowed to lapse in July.

Previous proposals to turn the building into an arts centre were also abandoned after several years of planning.

A listing on the RightMove property website says the building “occupies a prominent position...in an area of vast regeneration”. It adds the building is “in a state of disrepair”. It is being marketed as a space for offices and workshops spread across three floors, with an additional car park.

A council spokeswoman said: “Leeds City Council understands that the property has been scheduled for sale by auction. We are seeking further clarification from the owner. Temple Mill is Grade IListed and a very significant example of Leeds’ and UK’s industrial heritage.”

Development bosses in Leeds have previously stressed that while Burberry has “not pursued the option” on Temple Mill, the firm’s interest is “just one element” of a huge regeneration jigsaw. The council’s director of city development, Martin Farrington, said the wider South Bank masterplan was “a long-term proposition”.