Leeds building repairs delayed again as legal paperwork holds up work
The Lower Kirkgate road has been closed since 2024
Repairs to a collapsed building on one of Leeds’ oldest streets have been delayed again, with work now expected to begin before the end of October.
Lower Kirkgate has been closed to traffic since April 2024, when one of the street’s 18th-century buildings partially collapsed.
Leeds City Council had provisionally planned to begin the £680,000 repair scheme today (19 October), but said some legal documentation relating to the contract still needed to be finalised.
The work will be carried out by building firm Geo Houlton and Sans and is expected to take around 20 weeks to complete.
The cost of the repairs has risen significantly since the scheme was first announced. In September 2025, the council said the work would cost £414,500, but this increased to £680,000 following surveys carried out during preparatory work earlier this year.
A spokesperson for Leeds City Council said: “We are pleased that, following months of careful planning and preparation, we are now in a position to begin stabilising these privately owned buildings.
“A contract is being awarded for the work and is expected to take around 20 weeks to complete.
“Work was at one stage provisionally due to start on Monday this week but some legal documentation relating to the contract award still has to be finalised and we anticipate that it will begin before the end of the month.
“It should be stressed that the situation on Lower Kirkgate is not of the council's making, with the owners of the buildings allowing their condition to deteriorate over many years and then failing to take the necessary steps to address the resultant structural issues.
“By stepping in and carrying out this work itself, the council will be able to arrest the deterioration of important heritage assets on one of Leeds’s oldest streets. As always, we thank the local community for their continued patience and support.”