Feilden Clegg Bradley wins approval for £210m ‘Cultural Heart’ for Huddersfield

The practice is leading on the Kirklees Cultural Heart project, which aims to transform the area known as the Piazza – between Queensgate, King Street and Victoria Lane – following a decline in footfall in recent years.

The scheme, for local authority Kirklees Council, is the ‘centrepiece’ of the wider Huddersfield Blueprint – the council’s 10-year vision to recreate a ‘thriving, modern-day town centre’.

The plans will overhaul and extend the listed Queensgate Market hall, with its 21 Felix Candela-inspired asymmetric paraboloid roof ‘umbrellas’, designed by J Seymour Harris Partnership, to create a new food hall. 

The 1940 E H Ashburner-designed Huddersfield Library, also listed Grade II, would be refurbished and expanded to provide a dedicated museum space. 

The scheme also proposes a new community-focused library within a modern extension to the Queensgate market building, a new art gallery on Queen Street and a 2,200-capacity multipurpose entertainment and conference venue with a 350-space multistorey car park.  

The buildings would be connected by new public spaces, including a park.

Kirklees Council leader Shabir Pandor said: ‘The Cultural Heart is all about delivering genuine long-term community assets, where friends and families can gather, relax and socialise.

The cost-of-living crisis reinforces our ambition to grow our town centre

‘We are in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis and we understand that times are challenging right now for many. This reinforces our ambition to grow our town centre offer and give people more reasons to visit and spend time here.

‘The public square, food hall, museum and library will be amazing new spaces that provide free and low-cost activities – ultimately bringing our diverse community closer together.’

FCBS’s proposals went through two phases of public consultation, beginning in May 2022. According to the council, around 8,000 people engaged online and nearly 600 people attended a series of in-person exhibitions about the plans.

Previous proposals for the redevelopment of Queensgate Market by Leslie Jones Architects met with opposition from Historic England (then English Heritage) and the now-defunct Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (Cabe) in 2008.

The construction of the first phase of the approved scheme is set to start in Spring 2024 with initial works concentrating on the major refurbishments of the historic Queensgate Market.

This first phase is expected to complete in early 2026.

Project data

Location Huddersfield
Local authority Kirklees Council
Type of project Mixed-use, cultural regeneration amd creative reuse
Client Kirklees Council
Programme manager Turner & Townsend
Development manager Queensberry Real Estate
Architect Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios
Heritage consultant Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios
Landscape architect re-form landscape architecture
Planning consultant Pegasus Group
M&E Engineers Arup
Acousticians Arup
Venue Consultants Arup
Transport Consultant Arup
Fire Engineers Arup
Structural engineer Arup
Sustainability consultants Etude and Sustainable Construction Group
Access consultant Jane Simpson Access
Cost consultant Turner & Townsend
Communications consultant Counter Context
Cost management Turner & Townsend
Principal designer Turner & Townsend
Lighting consultant ARUP
Main contractor TBC
Funding Kirklees Council
Tender date March 2023 contractor appointment (PCSA)
Start on site Spring 2024
Completion First phase – spring 2026
Contract duration RIBA Stages 0-3
Gross internal floor area Approx 39,850m²
Form of contract Design and Build
Total cost £210 million