Local contractor wins £22m Bradford Odeon makeover

Keighley-based RN Wooler & Co has been selected as main contractor for the £22m transformation of a derelict cinema in the centre of Bradford.The Bradford Live project is set to turn the city centre’s former Odeon building into a multi-purpose live events venue. Works are due to start later this spring.The venue opened in 1930 as the New Victoria, and was the biggest cinevariety theatre outside London and the first in the UK to be purpose-built for screening ‘talkies’. It closed its doors in 2000 and has been empty ever since.Yorkshire Forward bought the building for £2m in 2003, but plans to demolish and replace it with offices were scrapped when the regional development agency itself was abolished in 2012. Ownership of the Odeon was then transferred to the Homes & Communities Agency who in turn handed it over to Bradford Council for £1 in 2013.In 2014 the council approved a plan by Bradford Live, a not-for-profit distribution social enterprise, led by local business people, to create a live music venue after inviting developers to submit commercially viable ideas for the building. Birmingham-based NEC Group is investing £2m into the conversion works and will run the building on completion of works.The redevelopment work is expected to create 60 temporary construction jobs and five construction apprenticeship roles.Local firm RN Wooler & Co was selected as contractor “not only for its illustrious client portfolio but also its commitment to social responsibility and the training of local youngsters”, the client said.The client’s team includes Aedas as architect, structural engineer Price & Myers, Buro Happold as mechanical & electrical engineers and Turner & Townsend as cost consultant / project manager.