WORK to transform a disused hospital in Colchester into new homes is set to start.
Colchester Council documents reveal a start date for work to build 120 homes at the site of the former Essex County Hospital has been agreed.
Work at the hospital in Lexden Road, which closed for good in 2018, is expected to start next month and finish in December.
Essex Housing, Essex County Council’s in-house developer, is leading the project and east London-based contractor Kind and Co has been appointed to work on the scheme after a procurement process.
Colchester Council is injecting £488,000 into the project from funding it received from the government’s Towns Fund.
A further cash injection from the government of more than £1million was announced in 2022.
The blueprints for the housing development were approved in 2020.
The new homes will be a mix of one- to three-bedroom apartments and three- and four-bedroom townhouses.
The site’s historic buildings, which include the Grade II listed main hospital, nurses block, and kitchen, will be saved.
The hospital opened in 1820 but closed in September 2018 when services moved to Colchester Hospital.
It was renamed Essex County Hospital in 1907 before playing a vital role in Colchester’s response to both world wars.
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