A council-led project to turn some of Warwick's most important historic buildings into homes is now underway.

Led and part funded by Warwick District Council in partnership with the West Midlands Historic Buildings Trust, the development of St Michael's Place will see the grade II listed Master's House and St Michael's Chapel in Saltisford "sensitively and sympathetically" converted for residential use.

Over the past few weeks, preparation has began on site, with work including geophysical examinations and the installation of test trenches for future service provision.

The St Michael's Place project was awarded £40,000 by Historic England in 2023 to pay for the specialist archaeological investigations on the site.

An artist's impression of how the site will look (image via WDC)

Further funding of £138,838 has been given by players of the National Lottery to support the development.

Portfolio for housing Cllr Paul Wightman commented: "I'm very pleased to see significant progress on this important project.

"This will rescue and breathe new life to these long neglected historic buildings and introduce much needed new housing to this excellent town centre location."

The district council served a compulsory purchase order for the hospital in January 2021 stating that the then owners, who purchased the site over 30 years ago, had allowed it to become "structurally unstable".

As part of the process, the council submitted a planning application in May that year.

And while the owners, who had carried out repair work on the chapel, objected to the order, it was approved by the Secretary of State in September.