Fletton Quays.

New and Old.  Fletton Quays and Historic Buildings .

The derelic site on the South bank of the Nene in Peterborough is undergoing a drastic transformation. It's has been part of the Councils plan for some time now but our Council always takes time to bring plans to fruition.

A Computerised view of Fletton Quays

The former warehouse size buildings, housing B&Q and Matalan stores have been demolished. As has Aqua House at the entrance to the site. The old Whitworth Mill and the railway shed at the bottom of the site are being renovated, transformed and repurposed. New council offices, a hotel, a multistory car park, retail and leisure facitites are also planned.

Whitworth mill before its Renovation

Weston Homes is  the company building  the super modern apartments on the riverside Quays as well as restoring and renovating The Gables on Thorpe Road, and a short row of Victorian houses used by the NHS on Thorpe Road. To restore these Important historical buildings requires a considerable amount  work in planning, surveying and liaising with local city planners, English Heritage and many other Bodies before any work can begin. The aim is to remove all or most of 20th century add-on buildings and repair the scaring these later extensions leave on the building and to sympathetically repair and conserve as much of the fabric of the original building as possible, Where this is not possible, work to make the building as user friendly for modern living as possible, the building work must reflect the present day level of architecture in the  buildings life as has happened in the buildings past lifetime. The cost of these  renovations are far greater than any new build, so Westons offset these often massive cost by sympathetically planning new build apartments and houses on the Historic buildings site.

The Gables before transformation

The Gables began its time line in 1895 as a home for a wealthy local Coal Merchant  J. H. Beeby. Designed by the architect John Alfred Gotch, the red brick building was in a Tudor/Jacobean style. In 1933, J. H. Beeby’s widow sold it to George Ralph Baker, a director of the engineering firm of Baker Perkins. By 1947 the house had been transferred to the ownership of the newly created NHS and used as one of the two Maternity Units in the City. In 1970 when a new purpose maternity unit was opened it was then used for psychiatric care. Many building were added to the old house during its years in the NHS ownership. The house eventually became obsolete when the new City hospital was built in Bretton and has stood empty and neglected for the last decade.

The Gables transformation almost complete.