Tileyard North: Wakefield Council wins award for transformation of district's creative hotspot

The council won the Collaborative Initiative of the Year award for the Tileyard North project at Rutland Mills at the Institute of Economic Development (IED) Annual Awards 2023.

The awards, which took place on November 7 at the Park Regis Hotel in Birmingham, recognise achievements in the public and private sector through a series of individual, team and organisational categories.

The Collaborative Initiative of the Year award specifically recognises outstanding cross-sector economic development collaboration between two or more partners drawn from local authorities, private sector, third sector, business and academia.

The Tileyard North scheme is a collaborative eight-year redevelopment project between Wakefield Council, City & Provincial Properties (CPP) and Tileyard London, which aims to transform the old Rutland Mills complex on Wakefield’s waterfront into a 135,000 sqft creative industries hub for West Yorkshire.

In response to the win, Coun Michael Graham, Wakefield Council’s cabinet member for regeneration and economic growth, said: “This is a fantastic achievement and celebrates the hard work over the past six years from both the council and Tileyard.

“We’re incredibly proud of the transformation of Wakefield’s historic waterfront into a vibrant space for creativity and entertainment. It has, and will continue to have, such a positive impact for people and businesses in our district and across our region.”

When regeneration is completed in 2024, the Tileyard North site will be the UK’s largest creative community outside of London.

Bev Hurley, IED director who hosted the awards evening, said: “Many congratulations to Wakefield Council as the winner of our Collaborative Initiative of the Year award.

"The submission was chosen by our judges due to the wide array of organisations and departments cited, significant scale of the initiative, and evidence of realising outputs and outcomes.

"They described it as an ambitious, future-facing project that will clearly deliver big economic impacts for the community, with the first phase already complete.”