Bradford Arts Centre £7.5m project in final stages

The hoardings around the building in Forster Court are due to come down ahead of the October reopening

A £7.5m "transformation" of a former post office into what will be known as the Bradford Arts Centre is reaching its final stages.

Builders began the refurbishment scheme of the Kala Sangam Arts Centre in St Peter's House, Little Germany, in January 2024.

Bradford Arts Centre was due be finished in the summer, but delays mean the five-storey facility will now reopen in October.

The renamed venue will include a 170-seat theatre, five dance studios and improved accessibility as a result of two new lifts being installed.

St Peter's House, which is Grade II listed, was built in the 1880s as the city's General Post Office.

It was also home to a museum before Kala Sangam, a South Asian community arts centre, moved in during 2007.

The renovation project includes the creation of dance studios and conference rooms

Alex Croft, the centre's chief executive officer, said: "Frustratingly, we are going to open a couple of weeks later than we should have done.

"In the grand scheme of a build that we've been building for over 18 months we're pretty good."

He added: "Only being a couple of weeks after where we wanted to be means we haven't had to lose anything from our performance programme."

Kalan Sangam was originally founded in 1993 in Leeds as an arts venue accessible to "people of all ages and abilities".

It moved to Bradford in 1997 and was set up in the Carlisle Business Centre before moving to its current location.

Mr Croft said the decision to change the centre's name was made after a year of consultations with more than 30 arts groups across the district.

The venue will also include a 170-seat theatre

"This whole project has been about opening up access to the building," he said.

"The name Bradford Arts Centre does what it says on the tin - it tells people who we are."

He added: "The word we use to describe this project is transformational - Bradford deserves this building, it deserves this space."

Listen to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.