A mixed-use regeneration of Rutland Mills, a Grade II* listed complex at the edge of the River Calder. The proposals will help achieve the ambition to transform this historic site into a vibrant, culturally rich environment for creative and collaborative partnerships in music, film, TV, design and new media. The overall vision of City and Provincial Properties is to repurpose Rutland Mills to create a rich, vibrant, mixed-use sustainable creative quarter, ‘Tileyard North’, at the heart of Wakefield Waterfront.
The formation of a new creative quarter requires imaginative and flexible re-use of heritage assets along with significant investment in new public realm to create an external environment that is as attractive as the internal environment. Alongside the retention, re-use and re-invention of 9 key Grade II* listed buildings the proposals include the formation of a large open-air events space in the heart of the mill complex with access to and views of the river.
One new building is proposed to replace part of the mill complex that cannot be viably re-used with three buildings in total being dismantled either because of the condition of those buildings or their unsuitability for new uses. Sensitive and modern interventions are required to the other 6 listed buildings to provide improved circulation space and disabled access. These works include the sensitive structural repair of external masonry walls, roof structures, internal iron and timber framing, together with the insertion of new stairs, lifts, and the addition of new external circulation cores to three of the buildings.
A new river walkway will be constructed off steel piles driven into the riverbed, steel framing and timber decking in front of Caddies’ Warehouse and Navigation Warehouse. The remnants of the original brick chimney, a standalone structure in the courtyard, is to be repaired, and the structure extended to its original height with a striking new exposed steel structure. Computational parametric structural analysis has been carried out to refine the design of the new element.
