Work is set to begin on the £100m mixed-use Wakefield Waterfront project in Yorkshire.

Phase one of the project will restore existing waterfront buildings and construct new buildings to accommodate restaurants and café bars as well as offices and residential apartments.

A new £26m art gallery designed by architect David Chipperfield will be central to the development. It will house 30 pieces of work by sculptor Dame Barbara Hepworth as well as Wakefield Art Gallery’s fine and contemporary art collections. The gallery is due to open in 2008.

The 5,500sq m (50,000sq ft) Hepworth Wakefield gallery scheme will also include a Grade II listed Watermill housing an interpretation centre on the heritage of the mill and waterfront, in addition to a new pedestrian bridge over the River Calder to improve links between the revamped waterfront and the city centre.

Wakefield Waterfront will also feature public spaces and formal gardens.

Wakefield Council and British Waterways worked up the development with an ERDF grant from the Yorkshire Forward and European Union. In addition, Arts Council England, the Heritage Lottery Fund, European Regional Development Fund and Yorkshire Forward have invested £27m.

FaulknerBrowns Architects developed the masterplan, outline planning permission was secured in 2004 and planning permission for the first phase was given in 2005. Work on site will be undertaken by Manchester-based developer CTP St James. Details: www.waterfrontwakefield.com