BULLDOZERS have demolished the former home of the father of Malvern’s sports-car heritage as work on the town’s new hospital continues.

The house of Henry Morgan, “H.F.S.” off Worcester Road, has been pulled down to make way for the town’s new £19 million hospital.

Planners gave the thumbs up to the 24-bed Malvern Community Hospital earlier this year after almost 30 years of campaigning.

Mr Morgan, the son of a Herefordshire vicar, launched the company in 1910 after building the forerunner of the motoring icon – a three-wheel open seater car and testing it out in the town.

The four-wheel car, which has since become a motoring icon, was developed in the 1930s and under Mr Morgan’s leadership the company went from strength to strength and is still the world’s oldest independently owned car company.

Born in 1881 at Stoke Lacy Rectory he worked as a draughtsman in Swindon for Great Western Railway, leaving in 1906 to open his own garage in Malvern Link, aged 25.

Developing prototype cars he also ran a bus service which took passengers between the Link and Malvern Wells and later from Malvern to Gloucester.

His cars won races at Le Mans and Brooklands and have gone on to take the chequered flag in countless rallies, hill climbs and grand prix.

The company celebrates its centenary next year and a town statue is still planned to commemorate Mr Morgan.

The new hospital in Seaford Court will provide a minor injuries unit as well as out-patient faciles, diagnostic services, day treatments and procedures, out-of-hours GP services and a range of health improvement initiatives and complementary services.

Following demolition work on the 3.4 acre site, it is hoped construction can begin in February 2009 with the first patients admitted in autumn 2010.