Whittington firm to renovate derelict YMCA site in Lancaster (From The Westmorland Gazette)
When news happens, text KENEWS and your photos and videos to 80360. Or contact us by email or phone.
Whittington firm to renovate derelict YMCA site in Lancaster
11:00am Monday 20th February 2012 in Business
WHITTINGTON-based Fred Hall & Son has won the contract to oversee the renovation of the derelict YMCA site in Lancaster’s China Street, which dates back to the 1700s.
The main four-storey building has been empty for ten years since the YMCA sold it. Now, together with an adjoining building, it is being converted into nine apartments.
There will also be communal areas including a laundry, pool table, courtyard and recycling centre. At the front of the building there will be an office for Lancaster University Students’ Union (LUSU) Living, which will manage the apartments. Fred Hall & Son bought the building last May and after getting planning permission in January started to gut the interior which is ridden with dry rot.
“This prominent city centre building has suffered from the neglect of the past ten years and we are looking forward to the challenges that this conversion will provide,” said Nick Hall, managing director of Fred Hall & Son. The building team has recently finished a £1.8million refurbishment of the former Bentham Grammar School. They hope to complete this project by September. Fred Hall & Son was established in Whittington in 1920 by Mr Hall’s grandfather, Fred. It specialises in conservation and large commercial projects.
