A FORMER school in Worcester is one step closer to becoming a retirement village.

The former St Mary’s Convent School site in Battenhall Road, which closed in 2014, has been transformed into 106 private homes including apartments with balconies and individual houses, both new-build and conversion.

The former school was bought by Enterprise Retirement Living Ltd of Cambridge back in 2017, and the marketing suite on site opened shortly before the coronavirus lockdown.

Natalie Crampton, sales and marketing manager for Enterprise, said: “It is very important to us to become part of the community and in the few days we were open (before the lockdown) we had lots of people who had been to the school coming in to take a look round.”

The site, called Mount Battenhall, has lounge and bar facilities, a restaurant, library, hair and beauty salon, gym and crafts room.

The former all-girls school, which was in the city for 80 years, closed in 2014.

The Grade II listed site dates back to 1863 and was a former hospital before becoming a girls school.

When it closed down, the school’s management said it was no longer viable, citing problems with recruiting pupils.

Each one or two bedroom home has a lounge, fully fitted kitchen and bathroom or shower room.

Some of the properties also have an ensuite to the master bedroom and selected apartments have a separate study, terrace or balcony.

Although the coronavirus lockdown means the on-site sales consultant is away temporarily, residents looking to find out more about Mount Battenhall can go to www.mountbattenhall.co.uk to find out more or call 01905 630 298.

READ MORE: Worcestershire tech accelerator BetaDen signs up new cohort 3.0