A HUDDERSFIELD man has given up restoring his award-winning garage after thieves struck for a fourth time.
Mark Lee spent nearly £30,000 creating the natural stone structure at his Newsome home.
But the architect now says he has given up after thieves this week stole lead from the garage roof for the fourth time.
He said: “I just thought, what’s the point?
“You try and do something properly, you put it back in lead and it keeps going. There seems to be little you can do.
“Lead is very expensive at the moment so you get quite a good scrap value for it.”
Thieves removed a dozen lead sheets from the garage at around 1.30am yesterday.
Police have arrested a 21-year-old man on suspicion of theft in connection with the incident.
Mr Lee, 48, lives at the distinctive Roundhouse on Hall Bower Lane with wife Caroline, 47 and their children Matthew, 21, and 19-year-old Katie.
In 2005 the couple spent £27,000 on a natural stone garage with a curved lead roof at the corner of their property.
The structure won bronze in the small project category at the Royal Institute of British Architect’s Yorkshire White Rose Awards in 2008.
Mr Lee, who is a partner at Holmfirth architecture firm One 17 Design, said: “The garage is a bit different. It fits in with the house, which is a converted water tank.”
But the garage has been targeted by thieves four times since it was built.
Mr Lee said: “The first theft was six years ago when they took nine or 10 of the lead sheets from the roof. It’s not easy to nick a lead roof, you need to know what you’re doing.”
The third theft last year caused £3,500 of damage – which was covered by Barclays. But the insurer warned Mr Lee that it wouldn’t pay out again.
Mr Lee said: “Normally, your home insurance would cover the garage but, after last time, they said they wouldn’t cover the roof.
“I’ve got to the stage now where I think I won’t do it in lead this time, I’ll use some other metal.”
