West Street Arcade to be brought back into use after £205,000 grant from Levelling Up Fund

INVESTMENT: West Street Arcade

By Simon Bristow

A dilapidated shopping arcade in Hull city centre is to be brought back into use after developers were awarded a £205,000 Levelling Up grant by the city council.

The funding has been awarded to MMR Investment Limited, which has received planning permission for a full building restoration of West Street Arcade and a rear extension.

The total cost of the project is £450,000 and will see the creation of ten shops, bringing jobs to the city centre.

There will be 450sqm of retail space over two floors with the building split into ten smaller units.

Renovation will include a full rewire of the building, the installation of fixtures and fittings, and the replacement of all windows.

Garry Taylor, Hull City Council’s assistant director for major projects, culture and place, said: “I am delighted the council is able to award this funding to MMR Investment Limited.

“It will help to bring back into use vacant units, in turn providing local jobs and is another great example of excellent regeneration work done in the city centre.”

In November 2021, the Department of Levelling Up, Housing, Communities informed the council that its bid for £19.5m of Round 1 Levelling Up Funds to support infrastructure and deliver a package of city centre regeneration works had been successful.

A total of £7.5 million of the fund is being used to create a new grant scheme which aims to bring unused floorspace of any vacant or partially occupied property back into use and to create jobs.

Similar to previous grant schemes in the Old Town, the Levelling Up Grant scheme will allow diverse businesses to open and operate, breathing new life into the area, the council said.

Last week the council also awarded a Levelling Up grant of £750,000 to ResQ Limited to allow the call centre firm to expand its operation at the Hammonds of Hull building in the city centre. The total cost of that project is more than £2m, and is expected to create almost 300 jobs.