Work begins at St Bart's site

The redevelopment of the historic Wormestall and Luker school buildings in Newbury is now underway

WORK is now underway to redevelop two historic school buildings at St Bartholomew's School in Newbury.

Developers Linden Homes are planning to refurbish the Wormestall and Luker buildings at the Andover Road site, which were left empty when pupils at the secondary school moved into their new multi-million pound purpose built school buildings last year.

The developers hope to have refurbished the historic structures by mid 2012 to create a number of one, two and three bedroom apartments, together with a selection of new townhouses and detached family homes within the old school grounds.

In total, the two sites will produce 84 new homes when the development is complete, including 47 at the redevelopment of the Wormestall site, with the conversion of the existing Victorian school building into 14 apartments and 33 other new dwellings.

The historic Edwardian Luker building, which was saved after much public outcry, will be converted into 22 apartments with a separate new build of 15 apartments.

Linden Homes have said they will retain as much of the old character of the buildings as possible, with the oak panelling at the entrance hall to Wormestall being retained, alongside the staircases, spindles and decorative columns, which will all be kept intact.

The developers said many of the old trees will be protected and that once the sites have been refurbished and the new homes have been built, the grounds will then be carefully and sympathetically landscaped.