Cottonworks, Bolton

I like mill conversions. I like their scale and imposing grandeur, the rugged brick contrasting with new plaster and their sense of place, of history.

Considering they were hellish places to work they now make pretty good places to live.

The big windows, steel columns and high ceilings dictate what can be done so developers can’t carve them up into mean little spaces no matter how hard their accountants plead.

Manchester and every Northern mill town surrounding it have their own versions, some better than others, but one of the best I have walked around is in Bolton, just north of the town centre heading towards Blackburn.

It’s not just me that thinks The Cottonworks is a well done example of the genre. It was named the region’s Best Apartment scheme by judges in the Manchester Evening News property awards in 2007, a fine accolade considering the number of new developments that flooded the market in that heady year.

So what makes it special? Well the conversion has been done by Manchester based developers P J Livesey, a firm that gets very excited about old buildings be they mills, manor houses or former hospitals like Withington in Manchester.

And it’s good because it does not compromise on what it offers and the design is clever.

I first visited three years when they had just finished the first section of this vast building and was met by MD Peter Livesey who still drives the company with a passion (his energetic daughter Georgina founded the GL14 gym concept in the city but is now very much involved on the property side as well).

I suspect the Livesey’s own homes are not small and on every development they do the scale and space they offer buyers is exceptional.

So at The Cottonworks the entrance areas are double height with lounging sofas and sculpture and the landings are wide enough to hold a neighbourhood get together should the fancy take you.

But the clever bit comes in the apartments themselves. With acres of internal floor space to play with they set them back in the building giving most a wide expanse of terrace, framed by the distinctive, but unglazed windows. So you can step out of your living room and get both fresh air and some protection from the northern elements. Genius. It’s a place for growing plants, eating by candlelight, putting a shed or storing the bike.

It also means that from the outside the mill’s Grade II listed face is uniform and unaltered, unsullied by people’s varied taste in window dressings.

I have been back several times since to see how it’s shaping and people who live here, downsizers and young professionals mostly, all comment on the space and height of the rooms, the quality of the soundproofing and the benefit of this inside/outside space. Crucially they are comfortable living here and are building a sense of community and ownership.

In the main they are local, work in Bolton or close by and already knew of the building. But others have been sharp enough to see it as a convenient base for a longer commute because road connections are good, it’s on a fast bus route and you get a lot for your money here.

One bed apartments now start at £99,000, including a parking space. Compare that to £136,000 for a one bed in a similarly characterful mill conversion in Manchester city centre where a parking spot will cost another £12,000.

But you can only decide if it’s worthy of the accolades by visiting yourself and the show apartments, including a big duplex, are open Thursday to Monday.

Go to Click here to view the Cottonworks microsite.