Business thriving at Dalton Mills

Dalton Mills is still thriving despite the fire that damaged part of the site on New Year’s Day. Although the blaze has affected a small part of the building, the occupied parts of the site such as the Clock Tower and the surrounding workshops have been completely unaffected and the mill is still receiving business enquiries and operating as normal.

The fire has been a blow as the Grade II listed building is a crucial part of Airedale’s architectural heritage. However, the blaze could have been much worse, the majority of the mill was unaffected, and we are working with Bradford Council at the moment to assess the full extent of the damage to the section that did catch fire.

The fire has seriously damaged one of the short wings of the mill, which joined two of the larger blocks together. The council’s building control and conservation officers are still carrying out a comprehensive assessment and they have asked us to prepare a ‘method statement’ to describe how we intend to make safe the fire-damaged section of the complex. We know a small section that is dangerous will definitely have to be demolished, but we are keen to conserve as much of the original building as possible.

At Magna, we will be doing everything within our power to save as much of this section as we can and we are working closely with Bradford Council to try to keep the mill in tact, as much as is practicable.

On a positive note, the section of the mill that was affected is relatively small, approximately 4% of the entire site, and it was empty and uninhabited. The fire did not affect any of our tenants in the Clock Tower or the surrounding workshops and we are making every effort to ensure that current investigations cause the minimum amount of disruption.

This was mainly due to the Keighley firefighters who did an excellent job in keeping the blaze contained and under control. We would like to thank them for their efforts – without their quick response the damage could have been so much worse.

Despite the fire, we continue to take new letting enquiries and are very hopeful of new businesses taking space at Dalton Mills.

To ensure public safety, any parts of the mill that might be dangerous have been secured and cordoned off. The public footpath along School Lane will be closed until such time when we can be sure that the remaining structure is safe.

The cause of the fire is still unknown although it is under investigation by the police and fire service officers.

Before Christmas, we were in negotiations with potential buyers for Dalton Mills after an auction at the beginning of December. Obviously, the blaze has been a minor setback, but despite this, negotiations are still continuing.