The former home of a historic East Yorkshire tannery business is being given a new lease of life as it is transformed into offices.
Minster House, part of Beverley’s Flemingate centre development, was once used as a warehouse for Hodgson’s Tannery.
One of the town’s biggest employers for more than 150 years, the business closed its doors for the final time in 1978.
Since then, Minster House has also provided a home for the defunct Humberside County Council.
For the past year however, the building has lay empty and disused.
Developer Wykeland Group – which owns the Flemingate Shopping Centre – has now begun an extensive renovation of Minster House, as it aims to create a prime new office space close to the centre of Beverley.
John Gouldthorp, asset manager at Wykeland Group, said: “This project will respect the heritage of Minster House and its location within a conservation area, while ensuring it meets today’s expectations from companies and employees for high-quality working environments.
“It will create fully-compliant, modern office accommodation in a prime location at the Flemingate centre and just a short stroll from the heart of Beverley town centre.
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“As the businesses in Armstrong House and their staff have found, Minster House offers the benefits of a high-profile location and excellent facilities, including dedicated, secure parking within Flemingate’s multi-storey car park, with cafés, restaurants and shopping all on the doorstep.
“Beverley is growing in popularity as an office location, reflecting the vibrancy of the town and the many advantages it offers, but quality accommodation in a central location is in very short supply.
“For all these reasons we expect there to be strong demand for the newly remodelled and renovated offices in Minster House.”
Wykeland has appointed Hull-based contractor Stubbs Brothers to carry out the sensitive modernisation of the building to provide a total of 10,000 sq ft of refurbished office accommodation over three floors.
More than £550,000 is being invested to create a new chapter in the history of the building in Flemingate, which dates back to the mid-19th century.
The works will include a new entrance lobby, atrium and glass lift, making the building fully accessible for the first time, new toilets and showers, and refurbishment of the office accommodation, as well as addition of a secure cycle store.
The building has also been re-roofed, with the replacement period-style windows to the upper floors and refurbished windows on the ground floor.
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Joint agents for Minster House are Scotts Property and PPH Commercial.
Tim Powell, partner at Scotts Property, said: “Following the successful letting of Armstrong House to a number of high-profile Beverley businesses, Minster House’s refurbishment will reinforce the attractiveness of this area as a business location.
“Beverley has always suffered from a lack of quality office accommodation within easy walk of the town’s amenities and all that it has to offer.
“The extent and quality of the refurbishment being undertaken will provide companies with an attractive, modern, open plan office environment within this landmark building fronting Flemingate, with the added benefit of on-site car parking within the multi-story car park to the rear.”
The works are due to be complete in February 2020 when Minster House will offer a variety of office suites ranging from 1,325 sq ft to 3,270 sq ft, with contract parking available in Flemingate’s 500-space multi-storey car park.
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