WORK to demolish a former factory in Abergavenny is set to begin next month.

The old Milsteel Fabrications building at the back of the bus station will be knocked down to make way for a retirement complex.

The scheme, by developer McCarthy & Stone, to build 38 one and two bedroom retirement flats on the site was approved by Monmouthshire council last year.

Demolition work will start in three weeks but due to water works, construction won't begin until July 2015, with the first homeowners moving into the flats in the autumn of 2016.

The complex, known as Swan Meadows Court, off Monmouth Road, will include a communal area, laundry room, a guest suite and residents’ lounge, as well as landscaped area in the grounds.

The developer believes the building’s design will incorporate local materials and regenerate a redundant area.

The former factory, which is not listed, was believed to have been built between 1940 and 1955 and used as a maintenance depot for the local bus service until the 1980s.

It was then sold to Milsteel Fabrications Company and used as engineering works until the latter part of the first decade of the 21st Century and has remained vacant ever since.

It is not a listed building but lies within a conservation area and is close to St Mary’s Priory Church.

McCarthy and Stone has previously said the building is an eyesore on a prominent approach into Abergavenny and that it aims to enhance the appearance of the site by replacing the existing, run-down building with a sensitive redevelopment of much-needed retirement living apartments.

A spokeswoman for McCarthy & Stone, said demolition work will begin in three weeks time.