A community hospital opened in memory of First World War soldiers 100 years ago has been transformed into homes and officially unveiled by St Helens’ Mayor.

Newton-in-Makerfield War Memorial Hospital in Bradlegh Road cost £9,000 to build in 1924 on land gifted by Lord Newton.

The hospital - registered with the Imperial War Museum - closed its doors in 2015 before being bought by housing association Torus two years later.

In a £5 million scheme, Torus commissioned its in-house contractor HMS to convert the site into 39 modern apartments.

The former hospital is now nine apartments and central to the transformation is the retention of a host of original features including foundation stones and the neo-classical front façade doorway entrance above which sits a dedicatory stone tablet.

A new complex of 30 apartments has also been built and sympathetically designed to not overshadow the former hospital by being the same height, featuring similar materials and using a limited palette.

The site is now called Collingwood Court in honour of Sir William Collingwood whose skill as managing director of Vulcan Works saw him appointed Chair of Manchester and District Armaments Output Committee that co-ordinated the manufacture of materials in WW1 for which he was Knighted in 1917.

Torus welcomed the Mayor of St Helens Cllr Jeanette Banks and local councillors to officially open the homes.

Torus Group Chief Executive, Steve Coffey, said:

“The conversion of the former hospital site that was built to commemorate the Great War means it will once again meet the needs of people 100 years on.

“Retaining heritage is crucial to us at Torus with Allerton Fire and Police Station and Ogdens Tobacco Factory in Liverpool repurposed in recent years to help communities keep their character, memories and architectural diversity.

“Bringing this neglected, frequently vandalised site back into use will give people a fantastic place to call home and also improve the local area by returning the hospital to its former glory.”

St Helens Mayor Cllr Jeanette Banks said:

“I was very pleased to attend the opening of Collingwood Court having seen the great work undertaken to bring this once vital institution back into use.

“Thanks to the care with which the building’s history has been woven into the scheme and the modern homes it will provide, I’m sure it will regain its place as a valued asset in the neighbourhood.”

As part of the site’s regeneration, mature trees have been retained along the front boundary while new trees, shrubs and wildflower seeds were planted with species chosen to provide year-round interest.

Foundation stones were laid on 15 September 1923 by Lieutenant Colonel Lionel E Pilkington on behalf of the British Legion and other ex-servicemen in Newton-in-Makerfield, and Captain R W D Legh (Lord Newton) on behalf of the War Memorial’s Cottage Hospital Committee. (Photograph attached).

Equipment valued at the time in the region of £1,250 was donated from the former Wartime Voluntary Aid Detachment Hospital in Garswood.

The original plan was to raise money following the Boer War and First World War to fund a memorial but the public raised far in excess of what was needed so a war memorial was erected at Earlestown Town Hall along with the hospital being built.