Guided tours of St Joseph’s Orphanage have been postponed.

It was originally planned that tours of the abandoned orphanage would be held in line with Heritage Open Days in September.

Advertisements

However due to time and insurance difficulties, the tours will not be held as part of the English heritage festival.

Instead, the tours will be going ahead later down the line when the building is safe proof and not dangerous to the public.

Developers, Czero Developments, are currently working hard to redevelop the Grade-II listed building into city centre family housing.

Read more: St Joseph’s Orphanage redevelopment is announced

They are trying to preserve the most important parts of the building and create a safe environment.

Currently, the decaying building still remains unsafe for people to go in, with rotten floorboards, derelict walls and broken glass windows.

Read more: What’s happening in Preston for Heritage Open Days

Founder of Czero Developments, Simon Linford, said: “We tried to arrange the public liability insurance for letting the public in and given the state of the building and uncertainty over the structural integrity of some of the floors, particularly near the main entrance, they would not provide cover.

“In order to mitigate disappointment we will open the building up at some point before any serious work starts on conversion.”

Have you been to the city centre recently? What do you think? Let us know in the comments below