First White Cloth Hall: Latest revamp plans for Kirkgate site

Work could start on the new design for the First White Cloth Hall in the coming months

Plans have been submitted for one of Leeds' most historically significant buildings on the city's oldest street.

First White Cloth Hall, Kirkgate, dates back to 1711 and is one of the oldest surviving cloth markets in Yorkshire, but has fallen into serious disrepair.

Property company Rushbond, which owns the nearby Corn Exchange, aims to revive the Grade II-listed building.

Subject to approval, the company is hoping for construction work to start in early 2018.

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The new plan, drawn up by Buttress design studio, features a rebuild of the building's former west wing and a glass structure around the old central courtyard area.

The hall once played an important role in Leeds becoming the centre of the county's textile trade.

The Grade II-listed building currently lies in serious disrepair

Mark Finch, director of Rushbond, said: "The revival of the First White Cloth Hall will be pivotal to the ongoing revival of Kirkgate - there are lots of great things happening [here] by lots of different people.

"The oldest street in Leeds now has new stories to tell."