The old tower of a former brewery site in Nottinghamshire will be converted into new apartments.
A project to turn the nearly 200-year-old former Hardys & Hansons brewery in Kimberley into housing has been ongoing since 2015.
Developer Fairgrove had been on the site, aiming to create high-quality properties inside the old kiln stores, tower and Grade II-listed maltings, but its operations abruptly stopped earlier in 2026 and it was forced into liquidation by HM Revenue & Customs.
Fairgrove previously had permission from Broxtowe Borough Council to convert the site’s tower building into three apartments in late 2024 but this did not come to fruition. The Victorian tower was sold to property development firm RBSL in late 2025.
Now, the historic brewery’s tower is set to finally be redeveloped, after RBSL’s plans to convert the building into five apartments were approved by the authority on Monday (July 20).
These flats will be spread across six floors, with one apartment each from the ground to the third floor and the fifth apartment covering the fourth and fifth floor. Each one is set to have two bedrooms with en-suites.
Much of the wider brewery site, including all the buildings, has already been converted into housing.
However when Fairgrove stopped building in January 2026 what is known as phase three of the estate, between the built homes on Barley Close and Eastwood Road to the south, was left uncompleted.
In late May, the land – which has existing planning permission for 24 three-bed and four-bed homes – went on the market and council leader, Milan Radulovic (Brox Alliance) has previously confirmed his authority had put in a bid for the land.
Councillor Radulovic said the council will know “very shortly” whether it has been successful in its bid.
He said: “The overall plan is to complete the site [in phase three] within a reasonable timescale, to build more than 20 new council houses to a very high standard and ensure the remainder of the site is complete, to serve local people to access affordable properties.”
The leader said the homes would be available for local families.
Speaking on the fresh update on the tower conversion, Cllr Radulovic said: “I have been impressed by the designs, impressed by the layout. Now there will be a major asset to the area.
“I’m delighted to see this phase of the project because there have been concerns about the degeneration state of the tower previously – it’ll be a major asset for the wider site.”
The Kimberley Brewery was originally opened in 1832, employing more than 200 staff until it was sold to Greene King in 2006. After being abandoned, it was purchased by Fairgrove five years later.
By Lauren Monaghan, Local Democracy Reporter