Client: Kirklees Council
Location: Huddersfield
Completion: First phase - 2026
The Kirklees Cultural Heart is at the centre of the ambitious regeneration of Huddersfield and reflects a movement across the country which is looking to renew our regional town centres.
The newly regenerated and resilient centre with something to offer to all ages and all cultures, truly representing the diversity and demography of Huddersfield and its surrounding areas.
It will replace a dated 1960s shopping centre with a unique collection of cultural facilities, reflecting the town’s cultural riches, set around a new town park. The new buildings, including an art gallery, library and entertainment venue, will sit alongside the refurbished and repurposed Grade II Listed Brutalist market hall and Library buildings will become a food hall and museum, respectively.
The cultural heart will bring social and economic life back to an area that has suffered under the economic recession and covid pandemic.
Removing the shopping centre buildings opens up new public routes and views.
Where there were previously level changes and blank walls, the cultural heart will be integrated with the town centre, the university and theatres and galleries beyond the site boundary.
The park at the centre will be a destination and focus, during the day and in the evening.
The Grade II-listed Brutalist market hall is an example of using hyperbolic paraboloid as an efficient and striking structure.
The 21 double-curved concrete shells make for thin, but strong structures supported by a stem – like a mushroom.
The freestanding columns are evenly spaced to support the asymmetric shells and give a dynamic sculptural feeling to the market.
Our retrofit of this significant building respects the fascinating structure will give it a new life opening it up and enhancing it to an audience beyond Huddersfield.
Development manager: Queensberry Real Estate
Heritage consultant: FCBStudios
Landscape architect: re-form landscape architecture
Planning consultant: Pegasus Group
Sustainability consultants: Etude and Sustainable Construction Group
Access consultant: Jane Simpson Access
Cost consultant: Turner & Townsend
Principal designer: Turner & Townsend
Structures, M&E, Acoustic, Transport, Lighting and Fire Consultants: ARUP
"The Cultural Heart is all about delivering genuine long-term community assets, where friends and families can gather, relax and socialise…ultimately bringing our diverse community closer together”
