Long-awaited demolition work is due to begin in the new year to bring down buildings within the historic St. Joseph’s Orphanage site in Preston city centre. The Mount Street plot has been the target of several suspected arson attacks in the almost five years since planning permission was granted to build new housing there.
The latest blaze – in early November – did further damage to buildings that were already due to be flattened as part of the stalled redevelopment. However, a recent Preston City Council meeting heard that the Grade II-listed chapel and attached tower was still salvageable – enabling it to be retained and converted into town houses, as previously planned.
Cabinet member for community wealth building Valerie Wise told councillors that the demolition of the other fire-ravaged structures would take place “in the coming weeks” – having been held up as a result of the presence of asbestos.
She also announced the establishment of a task force to help safeguard empty buildings in Preston after a spate of fires in recent years – including one which destroyed the former Odeon Cinema on Church Street in the summer of 2022 and another on the same road just last month, resulting in the loss of two properties, one of which was Grade II listed.
Cllr Wise said that the group – which will liaise with the police and fire service – will aim to ensure owners to “take responsibility for…their buildings [being] secure and safe” – and encourage them to bring the premises into “active use”.
“If owners don’t do this, then the council will use all the enforcement powers available [to it] and will encourage them to sell [the buildings] on to more responsible owners [or] developers,” she explained.
“We won’t tolerate behaviour [from] developers and building owners who don’t take responsibility for the safety of their property seriously – putting people and some buildings at risk. As some of these buildings are part of Preston’s heritage, we think owners have a duty to protect [assets] of historic importance – and the council will take formal action if this isn’t happening.”
In October, the town hall waived a potential affordable housing windfall in order to speed up the redevelopment of the city’s former Park Hotel – also Grade II listed – amid fears it could burn down if the scheme did not get under way soon. Cllr Wise said the fires that have taken hold at various sites across the city have had a “huge impact” on the authority, which is heavily involved in the “recovery stage” after such incidents. She told colleagues that the council was seeking to recoup costs incurred in relation to last month’s Church Street blaze and, as a last resort, would impose a “land charge”.
The meeting heard that a “community protection notice” had been served on the owners of the former St. Joseph’s Orphanage – believed to be Zimrock Limited – and a “community protection warning” on a demolition contractor after “people were witnessed entering…these dangerous buildings”. Preston City Council granted planning permission for the conversion of the former St. Joseph’s Orphanage – and the old Mount Street Hospital on the same plot – into housing in May 2020. The site was last in use as a nursing home in the mid 2000s and has been vacant ever since.
Under the proposal – brought forward by Czero Developments Limited, which subsequently sold the site with the permission attached – five of the six buildings present were to be levelled, including the 1872-built orphanage, a ‘sick poor’ block, added in 1877, and the 1933 hospital block.
Some demolition work has taken place since, but more remains outstanding. It is ultimately intended to build three apartment blocks – containing a total of 50 flats – and 10 town houses, in addition to the seven planned for the former chapel. Prior to last month’s blaze, fires have also broken out at the site in both 2022 and 2023.