The Old Cottage Hospital – Historic Building Restoration and Conversion – Ashby de la Zouch

There was a public outcry in 2014 when Ashby’s historic Old Cottage Hospital was closed, after over a century of service to the community.

Now, five years later, this much-loved landmark has been restored and revived in the form of a 21st-century business centre.

The derelict hospital, originally built in 1897, was purchased by local developer Lychgate Homes in 2017, and we worked closely with them to convert the building into our new offices. As experts in historic building restoration, we relished the opportunity to sensitively bring this old building back to life.

Work began in 2018, removing the large and inappropriate single-storey extensions from the rear that had been added in the 1950s. In their place, Lychgate has built four new homes, as well as creating parking for the new offices.

Outside, new pitched and tiled roofs have been added to the front of the building, and the exterior has been cleaned and restored to highlight its Victorian features.

Most of the original windows have been retained and refurbished. Later UPVC casement windows have been replaced with traditional timber sash windows to match the hospital’s unique character.

We brought the services to the hospital building right up to date, installing over four miles of network cabling for high-speed broadband.

Internally, the ground floor is entirely occupied by ourselves and includes two spacious drawing studios, a boardroom, reception, meeting room and further office space. One of the drawing studios, which was formerly a hospital ward, has had its ceiling removed to reveal a vast roof space with original trusses. These have been restored and exposed as a feature.

The first floor has been converted into 11 self-contained offices. These are now let to local businesses whose work complements our own.