Developer Hassett Homes offers update on multi-million pound project to restore and transform a Grade II-listed Liverpool mansion into an apartments complex and build houses in the grounds. Tony McDonough reports
Developer Hassett Homes has described the “arduous” task of restoring a Grade II-listed Liverpool mansion which it is transforming into an apartments complex.
Hassett acquired the former Margaret Beavan special school in Almonds Green in West Derby in 2020 and in August 2023 secured planning consent to create 11 apartments in the main building and build a further 21 homes in the grounds.
These will include 11 detached houses, four semi-detached houses, three contemporary terraces and three coach houses. Work on the multi-million pound project began in May 2024 and Hassett, owned by Jamie Blennerhassett, has now offered a progress update in a letter to local residents.
In the letter, shared to LBN by the West Derby Society, it said: “Over recent months the team has focused on the Grade II Listed school building as priority.
“The work has been arduous – returning the building to its original structural frame, reinstating floor structures and undertaking intricate repairs to heritage fabrics such as the sandstone bays.
“Wherever possible, original elements have been preserved so that they can be reinstated, conserving the building’s historic character for the long term.
“In the coming weeks we will commence installation of the new roof structure to the school building. This is a key milestone that will allow us to make the building watertight and structurally safe.
“We have secured authentic slate tiles that reflect the character of the originals to complete the roof and ensure the character of the building is further maintained.”
Originally called Eddesbury, the mansion was designed by Liverpool architect Francis Doyle for cotton broker Danson Cunningham and his family. It was completed in 1884. It later housed Margaret Beavan special school but has been empty since 2004.
In the years following the building fell into a state of disrepair and was badly damaged by a fire in 2022 which left it largely roofless.
The letter added: “While the school has been our main focus, we have continued to advance infrastructure and the new build homes wherever we can.
“As we need to have the school building at a certain level of progress before we can push forward with the new builds, once the building roof is on, activity on the new build elements will step up significantly.
“We appreciate living in the vicinity of a development site brings about a degree of inconvenience and we are grateful for your ongoing cooperation.”
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Stephen Guy, chairman of the West Derby Society, based in Lowlands adjacent to the site, also said: “We all look forward to this restoration and development being completed.
“It is a key part of the West Derby Village Conservation Area which it will enhance and improve. It was the last major Victorian mansion to be built in West Derby. For many years it was the Margaret Beavan School, named after Liverpool’s first woman Lord Mayor.”