Yorkshire: £1.5m mosque to create jobs and act as community beacon

Shazad Hussain, who is overseeing the scheme to create a new mosque in York, said he hoped local material and labourers would be involved in the building work, at a time when many construction firms were struggling due to the slump caused by the global financial crisis.

The proposal for a £1.5m mosque has been backed by City of York Council, and the local Muslim community is raising funds to pay for the building costs.

The mosque is due to be built in Bull Lane, York, after previous concerns over flooding at the site were addressed.

The project will see the existing mosque, which has been on the site for 27 years, replaced with a new building.

The current facilities are struggling to cope with the growing numbers of people who are using them.

A previous application was withdrawn last year because of the flood risk, but the new proposal, which was approved by York Council’s planning committee, was drawn up after consultation with the Environment Agency and drainage engineers.

According to Mr Hussain, who is in charge of the York Mosque scheme, the current mosque, a flat-roofed, brick-built former local authority depot, is too cramped and has high maintenance costs. It’s hoped that building work could begin on the site within two years.

The property will be the first purpose-built mosque in York. Those attending the York Mosque include up to 300 Muslim families living locally, and overseas students at York University.

The new planning application for the mosque, which features Islamic arch windows and two symbolic 12ft minarets, replaced a design for a building almost twice the size which was withdrawn earlier this year.

The current York Mosque, which is affiliated to the UK Islamic Mission (UK IM) can accommodate 300 worshippers, while the new building will hold 480 people.

An extra 56 people could be accommodated in an exhibition room in the new mosque which will feature Islamic literature, artefacts and a history of the site.

Mr Hussain said the current mosque was no longer fit for purpose, because of its age, size and condition.

Over the last seven or eight years, there had been lots of discussion within the Muslim community about the size and role of the new mosque, Mr Hussain added.

“Our wish is that the new mosque will become a religious resource for schools and interfaith groups to learn about Islam,’’ he said.

“We want the replacement mosque to promote integration and harmony and to have real benefits for the wider community in a city which is an important religious centre. Some rooms may be available to hire to local community groups.

“Our wish is to create an important new place of worship and a valuable facility which York people will be proud of.

“We want the wider community to use the mosque, in order to create a better understanding between the community and the mosque.”

Mr Hussain hoped a wide variety of groups would choose to use the mosque regularly, although no alcohol would be allowed inside. He said it might be necessary to build the mosque in phases, but he hoped the scheme would be completed within two years.

The mosque, which has been designed by the York-based property and construction firm LHL, will have a number of environmentally friendly features, including solar panels.

The mosque will also have the capacity to ‘harvest’ rainwater, in order to reduce its impact on the environment.

As the site is partly in a flood plain for a tributary to the River Foss, the mosque will be built on pillars to leave the plain undisturbed.

Richard Hampshire, a director of the LHL Group, said yesterday: “The existing mosque building is not suitable in quality or size for an important religion such as Islam.

“The proposed scheme is far smaller and more compact than the earlier plan.

“It is also very high-quality with good environmental credentials as well as addressing other planning and construction difficul-ties.

“We’re pleased to have local authority support and look forward to taking it to the next stage.”

The LHL Group, which is based in The Chocolate Works in York, has 40 staff and provides a wide range of residential, commercial and public sector-related property services.

The company has specialist teams advising in the healthcare, education and historic buildings sectors.

It has building and quantity surveying offices in Harrogate, Doncaster, Newcastle and Hull.

Last year, LHL acquired chartered surveyors Roger Spencer Logan, which is also based in York, as part of its expansion strat- egy.