The £100,000 transformation of a former Burley-in-Wharfedale stately home into a business and learning centre is almost complete.

Ilkley businessman Alan Hayes is happy to admit that renovating and restoring Burley Grange, which lay empty for two-and-a-half years after Bradford College withdrew from the village – has become a “passion”.

But it was business-sense, rather than emotion, that first attracted the 59-year-old to the building which will provide a West Yorkshire base for his not-for-profit agency, Business Support and Development (BSD).

Since acquiring the grade two listed property in the heart of the village in January, Mr Hayes has been overseeing its refurbishment, keen to restore it to its earlier glory.

Now, with new floors and ceilings in place along with a full IT training suite, Burley Grange is almost ready for its official re-opening – and Mr Hayes can’t wait to show it to the people of Burley.

He said: “The grand opening will be during the week starting August 24, at the beginning of the Burley Summer Festival.

“This will be a chance for the community to come in and have a look around and see what we’re all about.

“We’ll be laying on coffee and teas, along with some wine, soft drinks and a running buffet.

“Because I live in Ilkley, I knew the building from before and I needed a base in West Yorkshire, so this seemed to fit the bill.

“And it has absolutely become a passion now! I’m going to eventually live above here with my family.

“It’s a brilliant building, I suppose because of its rough edges and its history, which stretches back to 1840.”

He pointed out that the grave of the man who built it, John Clapham, is nearby, behind the Salem Chapel.

As well as tackling practical problems like rotting beams and partially collapsed ceilings, Mr Hayes has been carefully making stylistic changes to the property.

He said: “It was all looking a bit institutionalised and I’ve been trying to restore it back to how it used to look, which was a Gothic revival style. So we’ve repaired the stained glass windows, put tiles and wooden flooring down and replaced the modern-looking radiators with something that blends in a bit better.

“Part of the roof in the activity room had just collapsed altogether but we’ve had that all repaired now and it looks good.

“Bradford and Ilkley Arts and Technology Academy are going to be using the room a lot of the time, and they run everything from IT courses to pilates and belly dancing.

“We’ll also be hiring it out and we actually have a dance group in for the festival.

“Then there’s a smaller conference room for meetings and language classes, the cellar, where eventually we’ll have workshops for things like jewellery making, and the old creche. We’ll be doing it up to be used as a creche again, because that will be great for people with young kids who are coming to do a course here.

“And we have a Learn Direct room with a whole IT suite, 14 work stations. All of our contracts are government contracts where we get funding for providing, in this case, IT and skills for life support and we also have contracts to help the unemployed.”