'I'm building a scale model of cathedral in cardboard'

Michael Scott based his fictional town on West Yorkshire

A YouTuber who is building a model town from paper and cardboard is adding a scale replica of Bradford Cathedral to celebrate the area's City of Culture year.

Michael Scott, an IT consultant, began constructing "Chandwell" during lockdown and uploads videos documenting his progress as the town grows.

The buildings are inspired by landmarks from across the Bradford district and the cathedral is the latest addition.

Mr Scott, 47, said he was "very proud" of Bradford's architecture.

Michael Scott is documenting the model being made on YouTube

Chandwell was originally a model railway layout created during the spring 2020 lockdown as a way to pass the time with his two sons, who are now teenagers, and stepdaughter.

"When I actually started building it and I started to need some buildings to make the town into a town, I started making them out of card based upon buildings in and around Bradford and West Yorkshire.

"It quickly became something that I realised I was quite good at and really enjoyed, so it became less about a model railway, more and more about the town of Chandwell."

He added that when his YouTube channel - simply named Chandwell - started amassing more subscribers, a running joke began that the town was rundown.

"It's a glum kind of place, so we wanted to do something to essentially give back a little bit to Bradford because, you know, Chandwell was very down at heel," he said.

Looking forward, Mr Scott has more plans to give his more than 17,000 subscribers a flavour of what Bradford is about.

He added: "I'm looking forward to making some of the grand Bradford mills, probably possibly Salts Mill or Manningham - or some combination to get that kind of look.

"Also maybe some somewhere like Little Germany, as there are some beautiful buildings there."

The railway section is based on Bradford Interchange and the town also includes Shipley's clock tower and the Midland Hotel in the city centre.

There is even a replica of Shipley nightclub Fluid and Mr Scott, who lives in Burley-in-Wharfedale, said it was based on how the area would have looked in 1993.

The progress of Bradford Cathedral can followed on Mr Scott's YouTube channel.

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