For decades, the Rutland Mills complex in Wakefield stood as a derelict relic of the city’s industrial past – its red-brick warehouses, once central to the wool trade, slowly falling into decay. Now, after a £40m-plus transformation, the site has been reborn as Tileyard North, a creative industries hub intended to be the largest of its kind outside London.

Developed by City & Provincial Properties, in collaboration with architects Hawkins\Brown, the project is an ambitious northern counterpart to Tileyard London, City & Provincial’s music and media campus near King’s Cross. Located beside David Chipperfield’s The Hepworth Wakefield, Tileyard North is a key part of the city’s wider regeneration strategy, reactivating the waterfront and providing workspace, recording studios and event spaces designed to foster a creative community. 

Yet, this transformation was far from straightforward. As architect Nicholas Birchall of Hawkins\Brown explains: “The site had been abandoned for over 50 years – many of the buildings were structurally unsound, some had lost their roofs entirely. The challenge was how to bring them back to life while keeping their industrial character intact.”

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