Newhall Campus Longmoor Lane
Orphanage set to become new £40m model village
Jun 7 2008 by Ben Schofield, Liverpool Daily Post
A FORMER Victorian retreat for workhouse orphans will be redeveloped by regeneration specialists Urban Splash, it was announced yesterday.
A £40m scheme will see Newhall campus’s 120-year-old buildings developed into a modern office and residential community.
Urban Splash’s managing director has said the project is “very close to our hearts” because of its historical value.
All the offices will be modernised and some of the villas on site will be converted into family homes.
The Longmoor Lane site currently houses primary care trust offices and council tenants. But it is largely dilapidated and many of the buildings are vacant.
Bill Maynard, managing director of the developers, said: “We’re delighted to have this project. It’s a little tucked away, but when you drive in it’s a model village with beautiful villas.”
The 30-acre campus was built in the 1880s to house 650 destitute orphans from the West Derby workhouse.
There are 26 listed buildings on the site, laid out in a symmetrical pattern.
Once developed, the site will contain both offices and houses, with most of the commercial tenants centred around the dining hall as a hub.
Mr Maynard added: “It hasn’t had much investment in a very long time and it needs a comprehensive upgrade.
“We want to make the public space very attractive with high quality buildings.”
He plans to convert each of the villas into five houses and build a further 26 mews houses in blocks of four with private gardens. The site will contain around 135 family homes.
The model village concept – which combined salubrious surroundings with accommodation – was ultra-modern for its day.
The developers say they will hold an international design competition to find an architect for the terraced houses.
The aim, Mr Maynard said, would be to conceive and build the “house of the future” and reinstate Newhall as a model village.
benschofield
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