Contractors brought in to demolish the disused premises at the junction of North Street and Cavendish Street have torn down much of the roof of the older part of the property.

Although the work to knock down the building started just before Christmas, actual external structural demolition only began at the start of this week.

As previously reported, an ornate stained glass window on the main stairs of the building is being preserved.

Bradford Council has released details on planned road closures in Keighley town centre to allow the demolition to take place safely.

But it has stressed it is possible the closures will be not be necessary on all of the advertised dates.

A spokesman for the council said: “We began taking the slates off the roof of the building on Wednesday February 1.

“We’d finished asbestos removal on January 27. Until we’d completed that particular job, it limited what else we could do inside the property.

“Structural demolition started on the week beginning Monday February 6.

“Much of the demolition can be done behind scaffolding, without the need for road closures.

“It’s likely we won’t need to actually enforce all the road closures that we’ve advertised. Local businesses will be notified nearer the time.

“This is a 30-week contract, and the contract completion date is in early June of this year.

“Apart from the stained glass windows, all the surplus materials from the demolition will become the property of the contractor.

“The vast majority of this will be recovered and re-cycled by the contractor.

“The stained glass window will be removed by a specialist firm and will be put into council storage for later re-use.”

http://www.keighleynews.co.uk/news/15080569.Demolition_team_begins_tearing_down_parts_of_old_Keighley_college_building_in_North_Street/