Plans submitted for 'Brit North' performing arts school in Bradford
The “Brit North” college will be built on the site of the Jacobs Well car park, and when completed will be “the first college of its kind in Northern England.”
THE first images of a planned 500 student performing arts college in the heart of Bradford city centre have been revealed.
The “Brit North” college will be built on the site of the Jacobs Well car park, and when completed will be “the first college of its kind in Northern England.”
The college, inspired by the world-famous Brit School in London, was announced several years ago, and earlier this year it was announced that it would be built on the former site of the Jacobs Well Council building – currently a car park.
Bradford Council agreed to the sale of the land to the Department for Education in February.
The college would be run by BPI (the British Phonographic Industry), which also runs the London based Brit School, which has produced talents like Adele, Amy Winehouse, Tom Holland and Olivia Dean.
The planning application shows that the building will have a theatre, set construction workshop, multi use games area, music performance spaces and a TV studio set, as well as the usual classrooms and college facilities.
As well as 500 students, 50 members of staff will be based in the building.
The application says: “The key driver behind the project has been the need for improved facilities for the Arts in Yorkshire and the North of England.
“Historically, Arts education and exhibition has been centred in London, however concerted efforts — supported by the Mayor of West Yorkshire Combined Authority and members of parliament in the North of England — have been made in recent years to diversify provision across the UK.”
It says Bradford’s designation as City of Culture was a key part in bringing the school to the city.
The application continues: “In 2025, Bradford was designated the UK City of Culture, drawing more than three million attendees to over 5,000 events across the year, demonstrating the scale of appetite for arts and culture in the region.
“However, young people from the city have not historically had access to a dedicated performing arts college.
“BRIT North seeks to change that by being the first college of its kind in Northern England, addressing a significant gap in provision and ensuring that a young person’s potential is not limited by where they grow up or by their socio-economic background. The college aims to provide young people across Bradford and the wider region with access to world-class, free-to-attend education in theatre, dance, music, and the performing arts.
“These facilities will enable flexible, collaborative, and worldclass specialist performing arts learning with efficient day-to-day college operations. The design is arranged around the theatre at the heart of the building, centering performance at the core of the college’s operations.”
The plans reveal that the building has gone through multiple design changes at the request of Bradford Council.
It says: “The Council’s Urban Design team felt the initial design felt ‘rather underwhelming and disappointing’ considering Bradford’s designation as City of Culture in 2025 and therefore suggested various means by which the design of the proposed development could better reflect its spatial and cultural context.”
A second design was drawn up – and the report says: “The Council noted that the proposed school building still fell short of expectations for a civic landmark in a prominent gateway location, with the design described by officers as being ‘sterile and corporate’ and ‘overly simplistic, with insufficient visual interest to link to the character of the city’, especially in the context of the city’s youthfulness and status as City of Culture 2025.”
The final design takes into account all of these concerns.
Referring on the design, the application says: “The school building has been designed to reflect Bradford’s local materials and industrial heritage, as well as emphasising the school’s specialism in the performing arts.
“To the former, the building is to be clad in brick, matching those used around the city, and the roofline of the building towards Manchester Road and Croft Street evokes the design of Bradford’s factories.
“To the latter, the school features theatre-style signage above the main entrance, and the red cladding to the upper levels of the building has been inspired by theatre curtains.
“36 new trees will be planted throughout the site, and existing trees will be retained as far as possible.”
A decision on the application is expected in November. BPI had previously said it hoped the school would be open in 2028.