Student flats work starts

Major work to convert the landmark former home of Worcester's YMCA into student flats has finally started after years of delays.

The listed building in Henwick Road, which was home to Worcester’s YMCA until 2019, will be converted into 163 student apartments as part of mulita-million-pound plans by Space Developments.

Whether the work will ever get started has been the subject of debate since plans to convert the building into student flats were approved in 2018.

The work was originally expected to have finished in time for the start of the last academic year and the building was put back up for sale in 2019 with an almost three million pound asking price.

As part of the redevelopment, the original buildings which are grade II-listed, with impressive gothic architectural features will be kept and refurbished to provide 91 student beds and a new accommodation building will also be built within the grounds to provide another 72 rooms.

The work is expected to be finished in time for the start of the new academic year in September 2022.

Tim Edghill from Space Developments said: “We are very excited to be delivering this scheme and regenerating this historic building.

“The development will provide a unique and attractive range of rooms and flats for students and a close and social community in which the students can live, work, and enjoy their time in Worcester.

“The redevelopment of this site as student accommodation, after its prior history as an orphanage and latterly YMCA accommodation, seems like the perfect new chapter for this development.

“We want to create an inclusive place where the residents feel part of a community where they belong and can grow and thrive, making lifelong friends.”

The original building was completed in 1869 and its development was made possible by the patronage of Worcester MP and alderman Richard Padmore and city businessman Edward Wheeler along with other members of the local business community.

Originally an orphanage, the building was later occupied by the YMCA for more than 40 years.

Property company Purple Frog secured planning permission on behalf of the developers to turn the site into a 149-bedroom student block in 2018 and hoped it would be up and running by last year.