Work to begin on £17m Business School at the University of Huddersfield

Apr 1 2009 By Barry Gibson

WORK begins this month on a £17m extension at the University of Huddersfield.

Albany Mill on Firth Street will be knocked down to allow the Business School to expand.

But 90% of the two-storey 19th Century building will be recycled and used in the new structure.

BAM Construction took over the site yesterday and will begin the six-week demolition of the mill on April 20.

The university’s deputy director of estates Alan Johnson said: “It will be a slow process because the building is next to a main road. In any case, demolition is not like it used to be. It is more a case of deconstruction nowadays.

“The contractors will salvage as much material as they can from the Victorian building. Stone and timber will be saved and reused.”

The 12,000 sq m building was once part of the Larchfield mills complex. But it is not regarded as architecturally significant – unlike neighbouring former mills that the university has preserved and redeveloped.