A DEVELOPER has revealed a £1million vision to turn the former offices of The Mail in Barrow into upmarket apartments.

David Clark plans to turn the Abbey Road building into 11 apartments ‘at the very top end of the market’.

A veteran of large constructions, the Lindal resident has now returned to Furness to take on the project.

Mr Clark, a director of Abbey Road Regeneration Group, is also planning to build another £1m block of apartments in the car park area.

The proposals to convert Newspaper House into flats are in the process of being submitted to council planners for approval, the 53-year-old developer said.

“There is a lot of competition in the town at the moment, and when things go back to normal life, these will be aimed at professional consultants,” he said.

“We consider the location of the Mail office to be very nice, active part of the town. Close to the train station, it’s a very food location.

“I think Barrow’s good for something like this.

“We want to rejuvenate old buildings and give them new life.”

Mr Clark said much of the outside of the office would be left alone but a ‘grand entrance’ would replace the pebbledash wall facing the car park.

The Mail can exclusively reveal Mr Clark’s plans after he purchased the building from Newsquest Cumbria in September.

Vanessa Sims, Regional Group Editor at Newsquest Cumbria said: “We made the decision to sell our former offices in Abbey Road as they were no longer suitable for our needs.

“The dedicated team of reporters at The Mail continue to be based within the Barrow community and are as committed as ever to bringing our loyal readers trusted news in print and online.

“We have also invested time and money in creating a wonderful working and training environment at our Newsquest Cumbria headquarters in Kendal.”

Mr Clark said he expected each apartment to be worth around £180,000 and that the conversion would take around two years to complete.

A lift would be installed inside, while office space and studio workshops would be situated on the ground floor.

A £1.4 million apartment block to sit next door on the car park area is also said to be at a ‘concept’ stage. Mr Clark described the plan for the 14 city-style apartments as ‘ambition on another level’.

His company is also behind Abbey Apartments down the road. Mr Clark also has experience working on construction projects that include a £250 million university in Libya and a £100m London apartment block

The developer said he planned to keep the name Newspaper House, saying the building had ‘played a significant role in the lives of people in Barrow’.