I got a sneak peek inside new homes being built at this iconic Telford building
I’ve taken a sneak peek inside some of the new homes that are helping to bring a historic Telford building back into use.
And from what I have seen, new tenants of the £900-£960 per month Nuplace properties at the iconic, Grade II-listed Gower in St Georges are in for a treat.
Under the watchful eyes of James Dunn, director of Telford & Wrekin Council; project manager Kirsty Liddell; Lovell’s site manager James Aucote and the council’s Victoria Bowker, I slipped on shoe covers and gingerly took a wander around the newly lain carpets in one of the new-build homes.
There are 10 new-build homes on the back of the busy site and they have all been snapped up by eager applicants to the council-owned Nuplace housing company.
The two-bed homes, their plush carpets and white interiors look great to me and are all having final issues ironed out before being made available to the new tenants before the end of the year. They have fully integrated appliances and a communal garden.
Another three homes are within the south wing of the Grade II-listed former community hospital, school and youth centre but they are not yet at the same stage.
One of them has a mezzanine bedroom above ground-floor living space, which has allowed a spectacular window to be preserved as part of the redevelopment.
The Gower building is also going to be used to provide new offices for St Georges and Priorslee Parish Council and a new community hall.
Completion of that part of the project is now expected next summer after being delayed by additional restoration work identified in the north wing.
But one thing the team of up to 25 onsite workers have recently completed is giving the outside of the front of the Grade II-listed building a top-to-bottom clean. That and a recreated bell tower mean that the Gower stands out more than it did before.
The delays caused by the dilapidated condition of the building mean extended disruption for residents but the team behind the project say it is making progress. The council has thanked nearby residents for “bearing with us while the work is completed”.
Lovell site manager Mr Aucote, who has worked for the company for seven years, said: “The end is in sight.”
And the council’s Mr Dunn said he is “really pleased” with the progress being made.
“It was in a dilapidated state, with much of it smashed to smithereens,” he said. “It is good to see it coming back into a proper use. It is a complex project.”
Kirsty Liddell, the project manager, says she can see the progress being made every day and loves working in the iconic building.
“Wow, it keeps getting better,” she said.
St Georges and Priorslee Parish Council, which is supporting the project, will eventually be able to move into new offices. It can then move out of part of a school that it is using as offices, to allow the school to grow.
The Gower project is one of several transformation schemes that Telford & Wrekin Council is working on in the borough, with investment totalling £250 million pounds. Other projects are taking place in Telford’s Station Quarter, Wellington, Oakengates and Dawley.
