A PROPERTY company has announced that it will be relocating to a Bradford city centre building once a major refurbishment project is complete.

Work to turn the City Exchange building, on Nelson Street and next to the NCP car park, into 119 flats is expected to be completed by the end of the year.

And now the company behind the redevelopment, the Investment Room, has announced that its sister company, Barnsley based The Lettings Room, will also operate from the building.

The move will see five new jobs created, as well as four jobs re-located from Barnsley.

The 65,334-square foot City Exchange, an empty office building, was sold for £2 million last year. The building already had planning permission for a full apartment conversion at the time of the sale.

Work to convert the vacant building has been ongoing since the start of summer, and the company has now released more details of the development, along with an artist's impression of how the finished building will look.

As well as the new offices for The Lettings Rooms, the development will also include a gym for residents and storage space for a construction company working on this and another major residential project.

The Investment Rooms is also behind the proposed redevelopment of the former Hallmark Cards site in Heaton.

Lee Jones, Managing Director of The Investment Room, said: "The full refurbishment of the City Exchange building will be completed by the end of the year and will transform this former empty office block into 119 high quality apartments.

"The commercial space in the building will be taken by the sister company of the developer, The Lettings Room, which will relocate its office from Barnsley to this central Bradford location to manage this development and also the former Hallmark House site in Heaton, which is under the same ownership.

"The other commercial space will be occupied by a gym for residents and storage for Torrian Construction, the contractor working on this building and also the Hallmark House site.

"We look forward to bringing this outdated building back into full use and creating new homes in the City Centre.”

The building is in an area of the city centre that will be undergoing some major changes in the coming years. Once touted as a possible "business forest" in the old city centre masterplan, the area has been home to some of the city's biggest empty buildings in recent years.

The neighbouring building, 1 Interchange, is currently used as offices for HMRC. When HMRC vacates the building next September, its owners are planning to fully refurbish the office block to create Grade A office space in an effort to get the building re-let as soon as possible.

The former Council offices, Jacob's Well, are opposite City Exchange and are due to be demolished early next year. Plans are in place to replace the building with a new build office block.

And plans are also in the pipeline to build Grade A office space at the One City Park site on the opposite side to the City Exchange.

Councillor Alex Ross-Shaw, Portfolio Holder for Regeneration, Planning and Transport on Bradford Council. said: “We are very pleased to see City Exchange developed into new apartments and commercial spaces. This will attract additional residents and businesses into the city centre. The development is the first in an area which will receive significant investment over the next five years.

“New Grade A office space at One City Park and Jacobs Well and the refurbishment of No 1 The Interchange provides companies looking for modern office accommodation with some fantastic options.

“All these developments will be well placed to benefit from the refurbished Bradford Interchange bus and rail station, and in the longer term, the proposed Northern Powerhouse Rail high speed line with links to HS2 and services to Birmingham and London.”