Luxury apartments developer calls for investment in Chesterfield to attract residents and businesses

Leverton Investments has renovated 87 New Square to create nine desirable residences including two penthouses for the rental market.

Director Marcus Leverton said: “It pains me to walk around Chesterfield town centre and see so many buildings that are starting to fall into a state of dilapidation. We’ve done our bit with this one and hopefully other people will invest. Once you get residents into the town centre there will be a need for more shops, more pubs and it will start to stimulate again. People have got to invest in it or it won’t happen.”

At a ceremony to celebrate completion of the renovation work, Marcus spoke passionately about restoring an historic property to its former glory. He said: “I walked past the building six years ago and I saw the sale sign, I didn’t know how I was going to fund it, how the family was going to fund it and what we were going to do with it but something said just enquire about it.

“We work with a team of incredibly talented individuals who bought into the vision and wanted to breathe a new lease of life into one of the most beautiful buildings in Chesterfield. It’s been six years of blood, sweat and tears to get it to this stage.

"The bank lent us the money on the building to buy it. Then they told me they wouldn’t lend me the development money so I had to continue to work and earn money to pay for this to do it because there were no funding options at the time. I went to various people to get quotes for the change of use and they were so expensive that I did it myself. I had a company come in and draw up the plans and when I got the plans I carved up the building and designed the layout.”

Marcus, who has a masters degree in project management, describes the style of the apartments in the Grade II listed building as traditional with modern elements. Underfloor heating warms the penthouses, one of which has a roof terrace and both have televisions in the bathrooms. Kitchens throughout the building have handbuilt cabinets by T2 Kitchen Designs at Hasland, quartz worktops and high-end appliances including a wine fridge, an induction hob, an oven and a microwave oven. Modern bathrooms, glossy black doors and white walls add to the swish look. Marcus said: “I am incredibly proud of it. You could be forgiven for thinking you are in Mayfair.”

The work has included, repairing original sash windows, removing rotten stone lintels, repairing parquet and terrazzo flooring, recreating the skirting boards to match the original design and renovating old fireplaces.

Marcus said: "When we came to apartment 5 it had an asbestos cover on the walls and we paid to have it removed. The guy from the asbestos company rang me and said ‘you’re not going to believe what’s behind here – there’s an original fireplace. This was an absolute find and a real win.” It’s one of two old fireplaces that remain in the building.

“The mouldings in apartment 2 were damaged quite significantly so we remoulded them with a local company, Hodkin & Jones,” said Marcus. “When we created new walls we integrated the mouldings onto them so it’s sympathetic with the rest of the space. I think we’ve been very respectful to the heritage of the building."

Tenants will move in on March 1, paying £825 rent for the smallest apartment up to £1500 for the penthouse with roof terrace per month. Estate agent William H Brown is handling the rentals.

Marcus was reluctant to divulge the amount it has cost to renovate the property, which was bought for £330,000, simply saying: “It’s significantly north of a million pounds.”

The Mayor of Chesterfield, Councillor Mick Brady, unveiled a blue plaque to celebrate the renovation. Built in the 18th century, 87 New Square is believed to have replaced a house where Thomas Secker lived before he became Archbishop of Canterbury.

Coun Brady said: “It’s a lovely building and the work that has been done on it is clearly superb. The hard work that’s gone into it and the quality of the work done by Levertons is excellent. They have done a truly tremendous job in getting it to the situation it’s got to and the borough council can’t thank them enough for the work that they’ve done.”

Leverton Investments – part of Wingerworth based Leverton UK Ltd – is actively looking for further residential and commercial properties to renovate.

Tony and Allyson Leverton founded Leverton UK Ltd, a construction company specialising in commercial refurbishment, in 1972. They were later joined in the business by their son Marcus, their daughter Mandi Jowitt and their granddaughter Molly Jowitt. The company’s main contracts are with the NHS, schools and fitting out industrial units for tool manufacturers. Marcus said: “We were among the first people creating vaccination centres. We created two in Croydon which we turned around in four days so we got heavily praised for that.”