Industrial rates in Bradford run from £146 per square metreThe value per square metre used to build up a property's Rateable Value. Comparing your £/m² rate to similar nearby properties is the main way to check whether your RV looks too high. on Challenge Way down to £14 on Johnson Street, against a city median of £60. The median industrial property is assessed at £11,750, below the £12,000 threshold at which Small Business Rate Relief covers the whole bill — so 50.5% of industrial properties here pay no business rates at all.
How an industrial property is valued
Factories, workshops and industrial units are valued on floor area. The Valuation OfficeThe government body that sets every property's Rateable Value. From April 2026 the VOA is part of HMRC (see below), but 'VOA' is still the common name for the valuation side of the work. measures the gross internal area — everything inside the external walls, including internal walls, stairs and mezzanine floors — and applies a rate per square metre for that kind of unit in that location. Offices, mezzanines and stores inside the building often carry their own rates, and yards and land used with the building are added on top.
Size matters more here than in any other sector. On the same estate, a small starter unit usually carries a higher rate per square metre than a large one, because small units let for more per metre. So the fair comparison is with units of a similar size, age and specification nearby — not with the estate as a whole.
"General Industrial" is the Valuation Office's own sub-sector. Nationally about nine in ten of its properties are factories, workshops and warehouses (SCat'Special Category' code — a short code the VOA uses to classify what type of property something is (e.g. shop, restaurant, office), used to find fair comparables. 096); the rest are business units, vehicle repair workshops, builders merchants and a few large single-purpose works. Large distribution warehouses are a separate category and are not included, and nor are self-storage lockers.
Top industrial locations in Bradford
A location here is a street or estate within one postcode district, because that is closer to how the rate is actually set than a street name is. Bradford has 151 locations carrying ten or more industrial properties, covering 3,254 of its 4,972 industrial assessments.
| Location | Units | Median RV | £/m² GIA | Range | Below £12,000 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| South Street (BD21) | 126 | £3,700 | £70 | £12–£152 | 88% |
| Essex Street (BD4) | 61 | £7,500 | £55 | £24–£85 | 69% |
| Thornton Road (BD8) | 60 | £10,625 | £45 | £14–£108 | 60% |
| Challenge Way (BD4) | 59 | £6,800 | £146 | £48–£146 | 83% |
| Bowling Back Lane (BD4) | 58 | £13,875 | £45 | £18–£98 | 41% |
| Dalton Lane (BD21) | 56 | £18,375 | £58 | £25–£113 | 34% |
| Brighouse Road (BD13) | 52 | £9,650 | £45 | £12–£75 | 56% |
| Knowles Lane (BD4) | 51 | £14,500 | £93 | £37–£118 | 33% |
| Allerton Road (BD15) | 48 | £6,250 | £33 | £24–£72 | 83% |
| Parkwood Street (BD21) | 48 | £21,625 | £81 | £24–£113 | 19% |
| Thornton Road (BD13) | 48 | £13,125 | £60 | £25–£98 | 46% |
| Halifax Road (BD13) | 43 | £10,250 | £72 | £41–£88 | 63% |
| Cutler Heights Lane (BD4) | 41 | £22,750 | £62 | £24–£108 | 17% |
| Tong Park Industrial Estate (BD17) | 40 | £10,875 | £54 | £25–£61 | 53% |
| Future Fields (BD6) | 38 | £8,800 | £98 | £75–£105 | 82% |
| Arthington Street (BD8) | 38 | £11,125 | £88 | £50–£108 | 68% |
| Dockfield Road (BD17) | 38 | £11,250 | £61 | £19–£150 | 53% |
| Thornton Road (BD1) | 37 | £7,000 | £40 | £9–£145 | 73% |
| Goulbourne Street (BD21) | 35 | £9,800 | £49 | £11–£108 | 69% |
| Carlisle Road (BD8) | 33 | £2,950 | £85 | £70–£140 | 94% |
Want to know how your own unit compares with the rest of its estate? Look up any Bradford property — it is instant, it is free, and it shows the comparable evidence the Valuation Office holds. For more location and market data, get in touch via the feedback form.
The same estate, different rate
A rate per square metre reflects the unit as much as the street: its size, eaves height, age, loading access and how much of it is office or yard. Thornton Road in BD1 carries 37 industrial properties assessed between £9 and £145 per square metre — a 16.1-fold range on one location. An older, lower-specification unit sitting near the top of that range is worth questioning.
Each bar spans the lowest and highest Zone A rate recorded on that pitch. Shared scale, running to £152 per m².
Why an industrial assessment goes wrong
The area is measured wrong
Gross internal area should match the building as it stands today. Mezzanines that have been removed, space that has been split off and let separately, or a survey that predates an alteration all leave the recorded area larger than the space you occupy.
Check the recorded area against a current measured survey.
The rate belongs to a different kind of unit
South Street carries 126 industrial properties. A rate set by modern, high-eaves units applied to an older, lower building — or a small-unit rate applied to a much larger one — is the commonest error in this sector.
Compare your rate with units of a similar size and age nearby.
Specification allowances are missing
Low eaves, poor loading access, no heating, an awkward shape or limited yard space all reduce value, and all are easy for a mass valuation to miss.
List what the building lacks, not only what it has.
Space is empty or unusable
Industrial property left empty attracts empty property relief for a period, and space that cannot be occupied at all may come out of the assessment. Neither happens automatically.
Tell the council about empty space; tell the VOA about unusable space.
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General information, not financial or legal advice. Independent service — not endorsed by the VOA or HMRC. Official rateable values and formal decisions come only from the VOA/HMRC. England and Wales.