Opening of Pioneer House in Dewsbury 'a moment to celebrate in the pandemic'

The £14m project to bring the iconic building back to life began in 2011 with the councils compulsory purchase and subsequent works to make the building secure and water tight.

A deal was then struck to move the college from Halifax Road to two sites close to the towns railway station - the first site across the ring road from Pioneer House became home the purpose built Springfield Centre in 2018.

Now the Dewsbury Learning quarter is complete with the opening of Pioneer House.

Councillor Peter McBride, Cabinet member for regeneration said: “These are exciting times for Dewsbury, we’re looking at a period of significant investment that will see the town’s future secured as a safe, family friendly town.

"There is lots of work going on in the background to progress some of the blueprint schemes and we’ll be announcing more details as the weeks go by.

"The opening of Pioneer Higher skills centre is a moment to celebrate in what many of us have found to be a horrible year, with the pandemic impacting on all our lives. We may not be able to have a traditional opening ceremony but we can look on this as a sign of the towns pioneering spirit.

"A spirit which I am sure will help us recover from the economic and wider impacts of the virus."

Their £7m investment in re-opening of Pioneer house is the start of the council’s plans for Dewsbury with improvements to the Arcade, Market and properties in the Daisy Hill area of town all planned for the near future.

The towns board are currently consulting on what people want for the town as part of their bid to secure £25m from the government’s towns fund.

The council will follow this with a specific consultation on its proposal for a town park in the new year.