Work is under way on the first phase of a £30m housing development in Mirfield.

Darren Smith Homes is investing £10m in the first phase of its St Paul’s Lock scheme, which will provide 38 one and two-bedroom luxury apartments aimed at the over 55s.

Work will start on a second phase, representing a £20m investment, later this year.

The development will transform a brownfield site between St Paul’s Church and the Calder and Hebble Navigation.

The fourth generation family-run company, headed by brothers and directors Darren and Nigel Smith, said the development represented a major investment in the town, would transform a derelict site and provide a “huge boost” to the local economy.

The completed scheme, sited in a Conservation Area, would include protected lime and chestnut trees, landscaped grounds, automated entrance gates, under croft parking and cycle storage. Some of the apartments will feature roof terraces and balconies.

Darren said the company had worked with St Paul’s Church to redevelop the grounds and provided landscaping and lighting of the church facades.

The firm has also worked with the Canal and River Trust and Mirfield Community Partnership to develop the conservation area, rebuild towpath walls adjoining the St Paul’s Lock site and replace any trees that had to be lost by planting twice the number of saplings. The firm has also brought in hedges and bushes specific to a waterside environment.

Darren said: “We are at the fit-out stage for the first 12 apartments and we are building the superstructure of the remaining 26 apartments. We are looking for occupancy of the first 12 in September or October and the other apartments by late summer next year.”

Work began on site about a year ago with the demolition and clearance of disused buildings which had ben used at various times as a builder’s yard, a fabrication shop and a boat yard.

During the excavations, workers came across stone chippings thought to be waste material from the carving and cutting of stone shipped in via canal for the building of St Paul’s Church.

Darren Smith Homes has completed a number of schemes in the Mirfield area, including Castle Mount, a gated development of four and five-bedroom homes; Radley Court, a development of two and three-bedroom homes; and Bank View, a development of two-bedroom apartments aimed at first-time buyers.