Heritage tourism could transform Bradford

Many have visited the Venetian palace that is Bradford City Hall, writes Nick Corbett of WSP, or Bradford’s art gallery in the Baroque Cartwright Hall, or the David Hockney gallery, but what about the empty mills and warehouses that climb Bradford’s hills – what future do they have?

Some of these historic buildings may be the stage for a range of artists as part of the Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture, but could these buildings also serve as the catalyst for an enduring transformation of Bradford?

From neglected to celebrated– success stories

For years, Faro in Portugal was overlooked. Millions of tourists arrived every year at the city’s airport, but quickly departed for the Algarve coast. If tourists did venture into Faro, they probably dismissed its modernist buildings as ugly and neglected, but today, these buildings are seen in a different light. The city is celebrated as having the highest concentration of modernist buildings in southern Europe and the Modernist Weekend has become an annual festival with visitors arriving from around the world. The buildings themselves are drawing people away from the beaches.

A couple from Paris fell in love with what locals referred to as Faro’s ugliest concrete building. They purchased it and repurposed it as a hotel. It is called The Modernist. Restaurants, bars, art galleries, and festivals have followed. It took a few pioneers with vision to invest in Faro’s neglected modernist buildings and what has resulted is a virtuous circle of regeneration. Faro demonstrates how the built heritage of a city can be hidden in plain sight: when it is rediscovered and celebrated, transformation follows.

Tallinn, Estonia, a European Capital of Culture back in 2011 is full of industrial buildings from the 19th century, much like Bradford. While it also suffered economic decline in the 20th century, many of Tallinn’s historic industrial buildings have now been restored and converted into cultural destinations. For example, the Estonian Art Academy moved into the historic Rauaniidi Factory, and the Tallinn power station is now home to the Museum of Estonian Contemporary Art.

Talented architects have been commissioned to extend listed buildings in Tallinn’s Rotermann Quarter to provide the floorspace that makes a scheme viable. As well as breathing new life into historic buildings, exciting new architecture has been created. One example is the listed Rotermann Carpentry Workshop, on top of which three towers have been built by KOKO architects. The scheme reached the finals of the prestigious Mies Van der Rohe Architectural Awards.

Reimagining Bradford’s historic built environment

Bradford has already gone some way in reimagining its historic built environment. Will Alsop’s controversial masterplan for Bradford city centre, produced 20 years ago, was itself regarded as a work of art and put on display at New York’s Museum of Modern Art. One successful proposal from the masterplan is the Mirror Pool, a massive water feature in the public square beside the grade one-listed Bradford City Hall. The Mirror Pool brings people together and is often full of paddling children, resulting in the neighbouring Primark selling out of socks and towels on sunny weekends.

To continue Bradford’s transformation, much like the examples above, the significance of its historic buildings needs to be recognised, and it needs to be understood that listed buildings can be changed, sometimes in unusual and creative ways.

Sympathetic development can occur within the setting of listed buildings. A key requirement is to understand a listed building’s special significance and to consider how this can be better revealed through excellent design.

Investment in our cities’ heritage

When a compelling vision has local support, investment often follows. Following the publication of Alsop’s masterplan, Bradford became the first UNESCO Film City, in 2009, followed by Sydney in 2010 and Cannes in 2021. This designation was testimony to Bradford’s ambition in  culture and design, and to the fact that its built heritage is packed full of character. Listed warehouses can be converted into stunning film studios.

Investment in Bradford is still happening. The new Grade A office buildings next to Bradford City Hall have brought jobs and prosperity, all while creating a better townscape and setting for City Hall.

Heritage should not be a restraint on Bradford’s growth, rather it should be a catalyst for positive change. Heritage tourism brings jobs and prosperity, and it can contribute to local identity, cohesion, and Net Zero by preserving the massive amount of carbon invested in the city’s  historic buildings.

It takes imagination and vision to see past the peeling paint and broken windows of redundant historic buildings. Like a work of art, Bradford needs to be curated. Its public spaces need to be programmed. Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture provides a major opportunity to do this. If it celebrates the city’s remarkable built heritage, it could establish Bradford as the next international destination for heritage tourism.

• Nick Corbett is director for heritage planning and placemaking at WSP UK
• Find out more about WSP UK’s heritage work