Fire safety expert calls for more protection of Calderdale heritage buildings

Specialist fire risk assessor Keith Atkinson has also called for more financial incentives for developers to renovate old buildings.

Mr Atkinson is co-author of the National Database of Fires in Heritage Buildings, which lists blazes reported by the media.

It shows more than 400 fires at historic buildings in the UK in the past year - including 36 in Yorkshire.

They include the huge blaze at the former Walkley Clogs mill in Mytholmroyd on August 1 last year.

Damage to the mill, built in 1851, was so extreme that it had to be demolished.

At the height of the blaze fifteen fire engines and 75 firefighters from around West Yorkshire and Lancashire were called to the scene. The cause of the blaze was not established.

While the mill was unoccupied, the database, which is not an exhaustive list, also records fires at occupied heritage buildings, such as that at the 19th century Greenwoods MIll in Halifax in May last year.

The blaze was thought to have begun in a gym in the building, which housed several businesses.

Up to 45 firefighters tackled the fire at the mill, which had been in Greenwood family for 140 years.

Mr Atkinson, a heritage specialist who runs a consultancy business near Chester, said: “If it is a modern building that burns down, although disastrous for the owners and occupiers, hopefully it is insured and is easily rebuilt - but you cannot rebuild heritage.”

The best way for these precious assets to be protected, especially from arsonists, he said, was for them to be occupied and properly maintained.

And he called for more financial incentives for developers to renovate old buildings.

He said: “The Government could help with this with grants for bringing an historic building back into use for much-needed housing, and by making renovation and essential maintenance work VAT-free.”

In England, where there have been at least 360 heritage fires in the past year, buildings open to the public need to have a fire risk assessment but historic private homes do not. Mr Atkinson called for this to change.

A Government spokesperson said responsible building owners should take appropriate measures to keep empty buildings safe and secure, adding: “We know heritage buildings hold great value to communities which is why we are investing £95 million to protect, regenerate and adapt these buildings, as well as protecting them through our planning system.”

“Fire poses a real threat to many historic places,” a spokesperson for Historic England warned.

“Historic buildings pose unique challenges - many were built before modern building regulations – but these can be mitigated with appropriate and sensitive fire prevention interventions.”