Plan for £15m centre for sport and performing arts at dilapidated hospital site

Plans to transform the dilapidated Clayton Hospital into a £15m centre for sports and performing arts have been submitted to the council.
A schematic drawing showing what the Foundation hopes the hospital site will look like. By Bond Bryan Architects LtdA schematic drawing showing what the Foundation hopes the hospital site will look like. By Bond Bryan Architects Ltd
A schematic drawing showing what the Foundation hopes the hospital site will look like. By Bond Bryan Architects Ltd

Wakefield Grammar School Foundation (WGSF), which last year agreed a deal to buy the derelict site from Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust, announced in March that it planned to redevelop the site for both its pupils and the community.

And after consulting with parents and nearby residents, it has drawn up proposals for a sports hall, swimming pool, performing arts facility, outdoor sports areas and additional teaching accommodation at the site.

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Laurence Perry, bursar and clerk to the governors at WGSF, said: “We are looking to transform what has become a dilapidated site, over a number of years, into something that the Foundation and the whole of Wakefield can be proud of.”

Under the plans, all the existing buildings will be demolished and replaced.

The new buildings would be used by students from WGSF’s junior and senior boys and girls schools throughout their education.

And Mr Perry told the Express earlier this year that he also hopes sports teams, community groups and theatre organisations will use the facilities during evenings, weekends and school holidays.

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Planning documents submitted to the council read: “The facilities provided will be open to the public outside school hours, providing much needed local sports and function facilities for the local community.”

The documents also said that the acquisition of the old hospital site “presents a once in a lifetime opportunity for the Foundation to integrate its campus around a development of new, state-of-the-art sporting, cultural and teaching accommodation”.

A decision is expected on the application in the Autumn.

And if approved, the Foundation hopes to move on to the site and begin demolition work early in 2017.

The whole project is expected to be completed within ten years.