West House Morley: Former Leeds mill building ‘shrouded in history’ sold for undisclosed amount

Joint managing directors of Watling, Andrew Foster and Nathan Pask, were appointed receivers over the property earlier this year.

West House, on Commercial Street in Morley, Leeds, is described as a “substantial three-storey, former mill building with ancillary rear warehouse” sitting on a 0.24 acre plot. 

James Bunce, a surveyor in the Leeds office of Watling Real Estate, said: “The origins of the mill are shrouded in history, but more recently it has been used as a gym, whilst its side arm housed a pub and nightclub. It had latterly fallen into a derelict state.”

The mill comes with current planning permission for conversion of the existing building and rear warehouse into a specialised supported living scheme. It is intended to provide 12 self-contained one bedroom apartments as well as ancillary staff accommodation as well as rear car parking.

Full planning for the construction of seven one bedroom and four two bedroom apartments with 10 parking spaces was also granted back in May 2014.

James added: “It is our understanding that the purchaser intends to bring forward fresh plans for the property, broadly in line with existing plans, to build it out as a residential redevelopment.

 “There was strong interest in the property in the end, culminating in robust competitive tension between competing interested parties.

 “We believe this is a great result considering the more general pressures being felt by the construction industry at present.

 “That said, Morley is an up-and-coming suburb and commuter town of Leeds given its good rail and road connections. The property is also centrally located, just off Morley’s main thoroughfare.”

 “This development could offer some really desirable accommodation, and obviously it’s always nice to see a West Yorkshire mill being brought back into use as they are an absolute staple of the area’s landscape.”