Holly Lodge House demolition begins to make way for 60 new Redrow homes
Demolition work has begun on 1920s Liverpool property Holly Lodge House, as developer Redrow clears the site to build 60 homes. The controversial scheme, which drew protests from locals, is part of a partnership between Liverpool City Council, Redrow Homes and Liverpool Mutual Homes. It involves building 1,500 new houses and bringing a further 1,000 back into use. Grade II-listed lodges, Fremont and Sandheys, will be converted into six new homes. An inspection by English Heritage found that Holly Lodge House had "lost too many original features" to be considered historically significant.

Work to demolish an historic Liverpool building has begun despite protests from local historians.

Holly Lodge House, a 1920s mansion on the site of the former Holly Lodge School is being demolished to make way for 60 homes from developer Redrow.

The building has been at the centre of a drawn-out campaign to save it from the wrecking ball by the West Derby Society, who attempted to get the building listed status.

However, after an inspection from English Heritage, it was decided that the building had been too heavily modernised and lost too many original features to be considered historically signifcant.

A video of the demolition work has received over 13,000 views after being posted on the West Derby Society’s Facebook page and attracted hundreds of comments from ex-Holly Lodge pupils.

One person said: “My lovely school, such a waste!,” while another commented: “I hate seeing old places knocked down for soulless new builds.”

The Redrow scheme is part of a housing partnership between Liverpool City Council, Redrow Homes and Liverpool Mutual Homes, which aims to build 1,500 new homes and bring a further 1,000 back into use.

Around 60 homes will be built on the grounds near Holly Lodge Girls’ College.

Two Grade II listed lodges, known as Fremont and Sandheys, will be converted into six new homes which will retain some of the original features.