Dudleys Appointed to Work on Mill Redevelopment

The company has been appointed by Lovell Partnerships to advise on the new development of 46 family homes on the 4.6-acre Greenside Mill site in Skelmanthorpe, Kirklees.

Lovell recently secured planning consent to redevelop the former textile production site, located between Huddersfield and Wakefield. Built in circa 1770, the mill changed hands several time but after the closure of Dawson Fabrics in 2006 the site remained vacant and fell into disrepair.

After assisting Lovell with civil and structural evaluations to support planning approval, Dudleys is now providing detailed support to prepare the challenging site for redevelopment.

Peter Dixon, director at Dudleys, said: “Extensive evaluations were required to help secure planning consent for new development proposals, where past attempts had failed. The site is bounded to the north by the Whistlestop Valley family railway visitor attraction and there is an 18-metre level difference from one side of the site to the other.

“With the planning desire to maximise development potential, we had to overcome significant technical challenges to adequately address the level changes.

“Given the derelict nature of the existing buildings and the relic materials within, we needed to undertake initial building safety surveys to inform of any dangerous areas and facilitate surveys required, most notably for the heritage record of the relatively untouched building interior and contents.”

Demolition work is underway to allow construction of the new housing scheme to start in spring 2023. Dudleys is undertaking a number of investigations to former shallow coal mining zones and existing drainage features to allow redevelopment works, while maintaining a wetland area at the lower eastern point of the site.

The company is working alongside Sten Architecture, Books Ecological and PB Planning to assist Lovell Partnerships in bringing forward Garrett Grove by early 2024.

Credit – Insider Media