A 14 ACRE site that was, until recently, the home of the University of Bradford’s School of Management has been put on the market.
The secluded Heaton Mount and Emm Lane campus, near Lister Park, has been described as “an exquisite example of the Italian architectural style” and “an oasis of calm in one of the city’s most sought-after areas.”
It includes numerous listed buildings and a hotel.
Bids for the site are now being excepted, and the University hopes to sell it to a single buyer.
Last year the University moved its Faculty of Management, Law and Social Sciences to its main city centre campus, leaving the site, which includes the listed Emm Lane Building, as well as the Sir Titus Salt Building and Cartwright Building, empty.
The University was granted planning permission to convert a building on the site, Waterhead, back to residential use in 2019.
The estate boasts three Grade II-listed buildings, the largest of which, Heaton Mount, was built for businessman and treasurer of the Bradford Liberal Electoral Association for several years Robert Kell in 1886.
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It was sold to textile manufacturer John Ambler for £9,750 in the 1890s. Over the years it has been a family home and a school and in 1955 there was a legal battle to stop Shell Mex and BP Ltd developing the grounds into a filling station.
It was purchased by the University in 1967 to form the headquarters of its expanding business school.
Boasting an internal area of 121,000sq ft (11,240sq m) the site is said to have potential for a variety of uses, subject to necessary planning consents. Dai Powell, director of property agents Avison Young, marketing the property, said it was “a rare opportunity to purchase an unusual and visually stunning property.”
The estate comprises nine buildings, including the Grade II-listed Emm Lane Building and adjoining Sir Titus Salt Building, 44,600sq ft (4,144sq m), which includes a lecture theatre, restaurant and atrium.
Heaton Mount, 24,200sq ft (2,249sq m), also Grade II-listed, includes a 42-bedroom hotel extension, complete with dining and professional kitchen facilities, meeting facilities and adjacent lecture halls and boasts a civil wedding licence. Various other buildings variously used as offices, classrooms and accommodation, among them the 7,000sq ft (651sq m) Vernon Barnby Hall, which contains 25 bedrooms. There are also several car parks, providing 150 spaces.
Heaton Mount was one of the first houses to be built in the area. Its frontage is 90ft, not counting a large conservatory. Features in the façade include extremely large bay windows on either side of the porch which are carried up to the roof and have interior dimensions of 15ft by 7ft, almost forming small rooms in themselves.
The listing for the building says: “Entrance is gained through a square, open portico supported by two fluted Corinthian columns and two plain pilasters with Corinthian capitals flanking the doorway. The entrance doors of polished oak, glazed with thick sheets of plate glass, allow for an uninterrupted view of the magnificent central hall – one of the largest in the district, measuring 46ft by 22ft – with its broad double staircase and large painted glass window. Two pillars at the foot of the stairs are of oak carved in high relief in a most detailed fashion, with foxgloves and other flowers and topped by large gun-metal figures carrying lamps.”
It adds: “Although bids to purchase parts of the property may be considered, it is the University’s strong preference to sell in a single transaction. Informal tenders are invited by 1pm on Friday January 29.
Further details, including bid submission advice and detailed information pack, contact Avison Young on 0113 280 8025 or email: getintouch.uk@avisonyoung.com
