Work to give Burnham-On-Sea’s historic Manor House a £330,000 refurbishment is nearing completion and its new owner has moved in this week.
Burnham’s Watermark Financial Solutions bought the building last year and has given it a complete revamp, allowing it to move from its smaller premises in the High Street to the new building in the Manor Gardens.
Owner Mark Woods, pictured outside the building this week, told Burnham-On-Sea.com: “We’re absolutely delighted to have moved in after 18 months of renovation work.”
“There is still some work left to do, but the bulk of the changes are complete and we now have fantastic open-plan offices that are modern and fully equipped.”
“Our team of 16 staff were cramped into the old offices in the High Street but now we have room to grow and expand.”
Mark says the overall project’s costs have risen to £330,000 from the original £250,000 after a number of setbacks along the way.
“The project has cost more than first expected, but we are really pleased with the end result and I hope that we’ve created a building that the town can be proud of.”
“We are conscious that many hundreds of thousands of motorists pass this building every year on their way into Burnham and while travelling out to Brean and Berrow. The run-down building that was here before is now a modern, bright and welcoming property.”
In addition to new offices for Watermark Financial Solutions, the building also now boasts four office suites to sub-let.
Mark added that security has been beefed up at the property and the surrounding gardens with new CCTV cameras in use monitoring the area. Back in January, the building was attacked by vandals who caused damage, as reported here.
The building was built in 1841 and was originally the home of well-known Burnham resident George Reed. The Manor House and gardens were sold to Burnham Urban District Council in April 1904 and in 1974 Sedgemoor District Council took over the building for offices.
The house was later sold in February 2000 to the Ashfield Trust, while the gardens remained in Sedgemoor’s hands. However, when the Ashfield Trust moved out in 2010, the building was put up for sale. It was sold to Mr Woods in 2012.
The new reception area inside the Manor House is modern and spacious
The spacious offices inside have plenty of daylight pouring inside
How the building looks now as the re-development work comes to an end
How the run-down building looked before the work started last year
