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Revamp to start on historic mill

26/ 4/2006

WORK should begin to revamp a Glossop town centre landmark into plush apartments, shops and business units by June.

The latest Glossop Town Partnership meeting heard that after three-and-a half years of discussion and planning, work to convert Howard Town Mill should begin on site within eight to 10 weeks, with construction taking a further 18 months after that.

Glossop resident Traci Lomas, a director of Bard Developments, said: "I am going to live in the mill so I have a vested interest in getting it right!"

She said Glossop suffers from a lack of retail space to attract big name stores.

"You need existing retailers to sit alongside national retailers so people can work, rest, play and shop in our town," said Mrs Lomas.

Once part of the biggest mill complex in Europe, the mill -which covers 12 acres - will be converted into 65 apartments over four floors, with the top floor for penthouses.

The ground floor will comprise of 16 retail units to include well-known national retailers and a supermarket.

Business units above that will separate retailers from residents.

The complex will also include an atrium, a Japanese-style garden overlooking Glossop brook, as well as a 50-space basement car park and a further 15 spaces outside.

There is even space in the plan for a library, although that will depend on what Derbyshire County Council plans to do with the existing library on Talbot Street.

Original features have been retained where possible, including the same style of windows as the original Victorian mill.

Mrs Lomas added that the entrance to the site had been a bone of contention, but a redesign had produced a width which will allow two HGVs to pass side-by-side.