The story of the job
This building started life in 1836 as the Melton Mowbray Union Workhouse, designed by Charles Dyer on an elongated H-shaped plan. It later became St Mary's Hospital, which closed in 2015. The council recognises the central block and wings as a heritage asset, so the job was about keeping the old building and fitting new homes inside it.
Phase 1 of the conversion on Thorpe Road created four apartments and four houses within the original building.
We coordinated Building Control and the 10 Year Structural Warranty, along with SAP calculations for the conversion, air tightness, sound insulation and ventilation testing, Energy Performance Certificates and water efficiency calculations.
In May 2025 the existing external walls were being repointed while internal wall foundations and new concrete block separating partitions went in. New ground floors followed on a type 1 sub base with polythene membrane and A252 mesh. By August 2025 universal steel beams sat on concrete padstones to the structural engineer's design and the new first floor was going in on engineered joists.
A new ridge beam went into the existing roof by October 2025. In January 2026 plasterboarding was under way in the ground floor flats, the first floor flats were being decorated and the houses were at second fix with sanitaryware and tiling. At the July 2026 visit all internal and external works were complete. Building Control has started issuing the final certificates, with the last few to follow.
