Two historic commercial buildings on Morley’s Queen Street have become the first to be restored and repurposed using Morley Town Deal Heritage Investment Fund grants administered by Leeds City Council.
The two buildings, which sit at the heart of the newly unified and expanded Morley conservation area, have undergone several months of work to restore shopfronts, doors, and windows to traditional designs. The works have also addressed inappropriate additions, such as external shutters, and have made the properties more sympathetic to the surrounding conservation area.
The work has been funded through the Morley Town Deal’s Heritage Investment Fund – part of a broader £24.3 million grant from the UK Government’s Towns Fund programme – which will see a multi-million-pound investment into the heritage buildings of Morley via grants to building owners.
More investment in heritage shopfronts is also planned, with other properties working towards grant agreements to deliver further commercial space in the town centre and restore buildings to their former glory.
Leeds City Council’s deputy leader and executive member for economy, transport and sustainable development, Councillor Jonathan Pryor, said: “Morley has a great deal of unique and beautiful architecture that is not currently utilised to its full potential. By investing in these buildings and others in Morley, we are not only protecting and preserving the town’s incredible heritage, we are also updating its fundamental infrastructure and making underutilised and empty spaces work for residents.”
Dan Merrick, chair of the Morley Town Deal heritage working group, said: “Protecting, reinvigorating and bringing Morley’s heritage buildings back into full use has been a key pillar of the Morley Town Deal from its conception. It is gratifying to see the completion of the first two buildings to benefit from the Heritage Investment Fund programme, with more buildings in the pipeline set to benefit from the scheme.”