Demolition Begins for Bradford's 1,000-Home City Village Scheme

Demolition has started on Bradford's former Oastler Shopping Centre to clear ground for the 1,000-home City Village regeneration scheme, with the first 97 townhouses set for construction in summer 2027.

Wakefield-based Metropolitan Demolition will spend eight months dismantling the shopping centre and surrounding buildings for delivery partners Bradford Council and urban regeneration specialist ECF. The clearance unlocks the first 97 two and three-bedroom townhouses.

What else is coming down?

Metropolitan is also working at the former Kirkgate Shopping Centre, where a six-month internal strip-out is underway. External demolition there starts in spring 2027, clearing space for hundreds of flats across two later phases.

The Oastler programme includes the Bazaar building and 22-24 Rawson Road, formerly home to Bradford Brewery.

Who is paying for it?

Demolition and enabling works draw on the first release of cash from £30m secured through Homes England's Brownfield, Infrastructure and Land fund. The West Yorkshire Combined Authority has committed a further £13m.

Simon Dew, managing director for Yorkshire and the North East, said: "A demolition programme of this scale in an urban centre is a significant undertaking, but every measure is being put in place to minimise the impact – including maintaining access to local businesses."

What does the wider scheme deliver?

The City Village scheme will deliver up to 1,000 homes alongside retail, leisure and community space. The project team includes:

• 5plus Architects
• re-form Landscape Architecture
• Avison Young
• Cushman & Wakefield
• Turner & Townsend

For contractors and consultants tracking the Yorkshire pipeline, the sequencing matters. Eight months of clearance at Oastler, then housing starts in summer 2027; a parallel strip-out at Kirkgate, then external demolition and two further residential phases. The £43m in public funding already committed signals that the first construction packages will move to tender well before the bulldozers finish.