The story of how these historic Yorkshire buildings were converted into beacons of sustainability

A Georgian mill near Hebden Bridge, a disused hydreoelectric power plant on the River Wharfe and an old railway station in York.
Gibson Mill, Hardcastle Crags, Hebden BridgeGibson Mill, Hardcastle Crags, Hebden Bridge
Gibson Mill, Hardcastle Crags, Hebden Bridge

On the surface, they have little in common other than their heritage value - but these three buildings have been cited by Historic England as leading examples of sustainable and sympathetic conversions of listed structures.

The heritage protection body is campaigning to encourage developers to re-purpose existing buildings in order to reduce the carbon footprint created by new construction schemes - even those which purport to be eco-friendly.

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Secret history of the Yorkshire village built to impress royalty is revealedThey want the government to make it less attractive for construction companies to pursue 'fast fashion' developments of new-build homes and offices.

West Offices, YorkWest Offices, York
West Offices, York

Gibson Mill in Hebden Bridge, West Offices in York and Linton Lock Hydro near Wetherby have all been restored and their uses altered in the past 20 years, and are now thriving as 'recycled' historic assets.

Responsibly adapting an older building and improving its energy efficiency can reduce carbon emissions by over 60 per cent and conversions are more sustainable than demolitions.

Historic England also want the VAT rate of 20 per cent to be lowered for projects which involve refurbishment and revitalisation to incentivise developers to consider abandoned and derelict sites. Currently, VAT rates on new-build homes are set at zero. Home owners are also less likely to adapt and improve their older properties because of thr 20 per cent tax.

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The construction industry is thought to be responsible for 42 per cent of thre UK's greenhouse gas emissions. Restoring a traditional Victorian terrace house produces 13 times less carbon than building a new property.

They have also highlighted the 200,000 empty properties currently lying vacant in England while under-used heritage buildings are neglected - and claim that old textile mills in West Yorkshire could be converted to create 11,000 new homes.

This Scarborough cafe that's been in the same family since 1880 is for saleHistoric England chief executive Duncan Wilson said: “Recycling plastic bottles is a normal part of our daily lives, but reusing our existing historic buildings would be a much more powerful way to improve our environmental impact. Despite this, reusable buildings are demolished every year and new buildings, which require a huge amount of carbon to build, replace them. Investigations need to continue, but the results from this year’s Heritage Counts report show that reusing and responsibly upgrading historic buildings is good for the environment and essential to meet our ambitious carbon targets.”

Linton Lock Hydro, Wetherby

Linton Lock Hydro is a hydroelectric power station built in 1928 to harness energy from the flowing River Wharfe.

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Its rise, fall and rebirth is a fascinating insight into the changes in our attitudes to energy use over the past century.

York Corporation built the facility after World War One as a response to rising coal prices - the decision was forward-thinking during a period when coal was king and its use, both domestically and in industry, was heavy.

Yet it fell out of favour when local generation of electricity was replaced by the National Grid's network, which relied on coal power stations. Linton Lock was abandoned in 1962.

With no other obvious use for the structure, it fell into decay and by 2000 was close to being added to the Heritage At Risk register.

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Salvation came from developers JN Bentley, who proposed turning the hydro plant back into a functional power station.

Linton Hydro now supplies the National Grid on a commercial basis - powering 450 homes.

Gibson Mill, Hebden Bridge

The National Trust-owned Gibson Mill is one of the oldest mills in the Calder Valley - it dates from 1800 and is Grade II-listed, and thus protected from demolition. It produced cotton and was powered by a water wheel. By 1890, however, it had been supplanted by newer technology and lay desolate.

After World War Two, it was in a poor state of repair, despite being acquired by the National Trust. It still remained largely unused until the 1990s, when the charity decided to bring it back to life as a working visitor centre.

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Architects EcoArc were briefed to design plans for the building to become completely off-grid. Solar panels provide hot water and electricity. The mill's original hydro system is still utilised for power, and its only mains connection is the telephone line. It was the first sustainable visitor centre to open in England.

West Offices, York

York Station is one of the most imposing buildings in the city - but few people know that the original railway station stood forgotten nearby for decades.

The station was built inside the city walls in 1839, but fell out of use when the current station was completed in 1877 on a site with space for the ever-growing North Eastern Railway to expand.

It had a grand Italianate frontage with an iron train-shed behind it - this part of the complex was cleared in 1965. There were also refreshment and waiting rooms. A hotel was incorporated into the main building and named the Royal Station Hotel after Queen Victoria visited.

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However, as York grew and developed as a railway centre, the site became inadequate. Through-trains calling at York had to reverse back out to continue their journeys to Newcastle. Even once they had been superseded, the old tracks remained for another 88 years and were used for carriage storage.

By the early 2000s, the building was derelict - until City of York Council decided to convert it into their new offices in 2011.

Elements of the ornate Victorian design were incorporated into the project, including the arrivals and departures wings and the hotel.

Energy-efficient measures including solar panels, biomass boilers and combined heat and power units were added.

The office complex opened in 2013.