IN Brief:
- HBC Construction has started work on Kirklees Council's £18m redevelopment of Dewsbury Market.
- The scheme combines restoration of the market's glazed roof and metal structure with a reconfigured hall and new public realm.
- Traders have transferred to temporary locations while the main works progress towards an early 2028 completion.
HBC Construction has started work on the £18m redevelopment of Dewsbury Market in West Yorkshire, beginning a programme that combines refurbishment of the existing historic hall with new outdoor public space. Kirklees Council expects the principal construction work to finish in early 2028, with the restored market and surrounding areas opening to the public shortly afterwards.
Dewsbury Market’s glazed roof and distinctive metal structure are central to the refurbishment. Kirklees Council wants to preserve those elements while reorganising the hall to support a more flexible arrangement of stalls and activities. HBC will be working with existing building fabric rather than constructing a replacement hall from scratch, although the council’s construction-start notice does not detail individual structural repairs, glass replacement methods or the sequence of work to the roof.
Retaining a historic covered market limits the scope for wholesale changes to the building’s geometry. New stall arrangements, circulation space, electrical services and any alterations to supporting elements must be planned around the roof and metalwork that are to remain. The detailed method for carrying out those interventions has not been published, so the project is best described in terms of its confirmed refurbishment scope rather than assuming particular temporary support or fabrication techniques.
The works also extend outside the covered hall to a town park and public events space. Children’s play facilities, fountains, planting and local artwork are proposed as part of the surrounding public realm. Together with changes inside the market, the external facilities are intended to accommodate ordinary trading as well as other town centre activity. They remain planned elements of the £18m development and do not have separate completion dates in the latest council update.
The new public areas will need to meet the approaches to the market, providing accessible routes between surrounding streets and the restored hall. Construction activity and materials movements must therefore be organised within a busy town centre while temporary trading continues nearby. Neither Kirklees Council nor HBC has disclosed a detailed handover sequence for the landscaping and market interior; the stated programme runs to early 2028 for the construction work as a whole.
Trading continuity has been addressed through a temporary market occupying locations around Market Place, Longcauseway and Foundry Street. This arrangement is already in operation, allowing stallholders to continue serving customers while the main building is out of use. Kirklees Council says it has worked with traders on relocations and space allocations, although the temporary set-up will operate differently from the original covered market.
Temporary market premises include converted shipping-container units, and some stallholders raised concerns around the closure of the original venue in September. The council says it worked with traders to allocate space across the interim sites. The difference in layout and customer routes means the temporary operation cannot simply replicate the covered hall, and traders will be depending on that arrangement for the duration of the main building works. Those concerns were reported by local media rather than conceded as findings by the council.
HBC managing director Lee Powell said a social value and employment programme would accompany the building contract. The contractor’s experience includes Barnsley Markets at The Glass Works and the ongoing Rotherham Markets redevelopment, both involving trading environments and town centre construction. The latest announcement does not quantify the training places, employment outcomes or local procurement commitments planned for Dewsbury, so those benefits remain commitments rather than results.
The market works sit within the wider Dewsbury Blueprint. The town’s historic Arcade has already reopened as a community-run shopping destination, while further improvements are taking place around the Town Hall and Memorial Gardens. Those are neighbouring regeneration projects, not additions to HBC’s £18m market contract. The refreshed market and surrounding park will ultimately join these separate projects within the town centre’s public spaces.
The retention of the hall’s roof and metalwork will determine much of the refurbishment’s practical sequence, while trader continuity imposes a separate constraint beyond the site boundary. The temporary market is already operating across three streets, and the council’s plan is for stalls to return to refurbished accommodation when the main work is complete. No exact reopening date has been fixed, and the proposed flexible trading layout has not yet been tested in operation.
Construction is scheduled for completion in early 2028, with the restored market and new outdoor areas opening shortly afterwards. Until then the temporary market will continue to serve customers while HBC progresses the heritage refurbishment and public realm works. The immediate confirmed milestone is the start on site; the condition of the finished hall, the completion of its connections to the park and the return of traders will be assessed later in the programme.
