A VICTORIAN warehouse has been catapulted into the 21st century, thanks to the vision of a husband-and-wife team who have brought a US trend to Worcester.

The warehouse, in Washington Street, has been converted into what is believed to be one of the first teleworking complexes in Britain.

Teleworking

The loft-style apartments are equipped with office-standard lighting, industrial strength wiring, multiple power sockets and phone lines, and up-to-the-minute computer cabling.

They are specially designed for people who want to run a business or work from home, a growing global trend referred to as "teleworking".

The concept of specialist teleworking centres was pioneered in the USA and although many European countries have followed the trend, Britain has been slow on the up-take.

It was while developer Kieran O'Donnell and his wife, Joanne, were living in a teleworking village in Italy, that they conceived the idea for the flats. They had bought the old hop warehouse three-years previously.

"My wife and I spent more than three years living all over the United States and Europe," said Mr O'Donnell, from Worcester.

"We came back occasionally, but most of our business activities were carried out via e-mail and over the Internet.

"It seemed Washington Street would be ideal for such a use but we knew it would need an awful lot of work because for 25 years it had only been used to store furniture and army surplus gear."

Mr O'Donnell immediately set about tracking down an architect, structural engineer, project manager and letting agent for the project, using the internet.

He spent a year working on the initial assessments, planning and design of the apartments, situated in the Arboretum area of Worcester, before construction and re-building started.

The nine apartments, called The Lofts, are due for completion at the end of this month, when they will be available for rent through Premier Letting, Worcester.

Free e-mail

They have one main bedroom and a fully-wired home office that can be used as a second bedroom. They all have two bathrooms and fully-fitted kitchens.

Anyone taking an apartment will be given a free e-mail address through the complex's own web site, www.28washingtonstreet.com.

"Loft dwelling is proving extremely popular and such apartments seem to appeal to people with an entrepreneurial streak," said Mr O'Donnell.

"Now, instead of having to take office space elsewhere for their business activities, they can work from home and save on travel time."