WORK is underway on a £3.7m revamp of a rundown 1960s Huddersfield tower block.

Richmond Flats on the town’s ring road is being given a facelift at a cost of £87,500 per flat.

The costly revamp is at odds with the plan for the neighbouring Lonsbrough and Ibbotson flats, both of which are set to be knocked down to make way for a new Tesco superstore.

Work to Richmond Flats was originally set to cost £2.1m, as detailed in the council’s five-year Capital Investment Plan.

But by the time it was approved by planners last October the cost had increased.

Plans for the tower block include: coloured render and glazing, re-cladding of the entire building, a new lobby and security system. Balconies will be replaced and solar panels installed on the roof.

Each of the 22 flats will get a new kitchen and bathroom and the 21 bedsits will be converted into one-bedroom apartments.

The £3.7m for the revamp will come from three sources.

More than £2.1m of the cash has been earmarked from the Housing Revenue Account, which is funded by council house tenants’ rent, a further £1.3m will come from the Public Sector Housing section of the Capital Plan.

The European Regional Development Fund will contribute £230,000 to pay for solar panels, triple-glazing and external thermal rendering.

Workmen have erected security fencing around the block and have started clearing out some of the flats.

Lonsbrough Flats were the first of the three 11-storey blocks of flats to be built, in 1961.

Richmond Flats were finished the following year and Ibbotson Flats completed the trio in 1964.

Richmond Flats were named after the designer, Huddersfield Borough Council’s architect Sidney Richmond.

He was also responsible for the neighbouring blocks named after Olympic gold medal swimmer Anita Lonsbrough, who grew up at nearby St Peter’s Street, and Berry Brow’s Derek Ibbotson – who set the world mile record in 1957.

The flats included modern features such as thermostatic underfloor heating and wiring for television.

Rent for a one-bedroom flat in 1961 was 36s 2d a week (£1.81 in today’s money).