An old office block dubbed an “ugly duckling” is set to be turned into an “attractive” city centre landmark, its owner says.

Developers were given the green light to move ahead with the first phase of an £8.5 million development of Charter House in St George’s Place, Canterbury, last month.

Workmen have now started to fit the “dingy” 1960s building with modern cladding, new windows and a rooftop garden.

Ollie Davis, who owns the site, admits the structure is “not particularly attractive” - but that he hopes to eventually turn it into 34 flats.

“It’s a long-standing investment in the city for our business and therefore the product we deliver won’t be of low quality,” he told the Gazette.

“Well it’s not very attractive is it? It’s a bit of an ugly duckling really.

“We’ve just got permission to do exterior works to the building so that is re-facing the building, and making it look a bit more attractive, which is good news.

“We’ve done some groundwork and are just getting all of the building ready for the cladding system and windows.”

The permission granted in September only allowed for exterior work to begin on the building and for the addition of a roof garden to the plans.

Like many developers across the district, Mr Davis has been forced to put parts of the project on hold due to the water pollution issues at Stodmarsh.

In 2020, the village’s lakes were found to have damaging levels of nitrogen and phosphorus, which are thought to have originated from sewage discharges.

The next step for the developer, in securing the go-ahead for the next stage of the build, is demonstrating to the Canterbury City Council that the project will not add the problem.

He is optimistic that, despite a three-year wait, this can be accomplished following the release of the authority’s draft Local Plan.

“It was issued last week by the city council which allocated a site down in Sturry for wetlands [to alleviate to problem],” Mr Davis added.

“So we’re looking forward to hearing from the council with information on that.

“The flats are going to be delivered to the best possible fit and finish and they will be aimed at the private sector.

“We will be looking at young professionals to rent the units, rather than students.

“I’m hoping we can turn this dingy office block into something fit for the 21st century.”

The site will include 18 one-bedroom flats, 15 two-beds and one studio.

Before Charter House was snapped up by Oliver Davis Homes, the building had stood empty for almost three years.

In this time is was marketed as office accommodation, but received little interest.

The development company plans to retain ownership of the flats once completed and will install an on-site manager to watch over them.

Mr Davis would not give a time frame for when the flats will be completed, but says the build will take about eight months.

He also could not confirm how much rent would be at complex, stressing fluctuations in the market make it hard to predict.