Watch: Look inside Wolverhampton's former Royal Hospital set to become apartments

The Grade II listed building – which dates back to 1848 – is now being converted into a complex of "wellbeing apartments for over 55s", due to open later this year.

The major restoration project, which is being undertaken by Walsall Housing Group (whg) and developer Jessup, will deliver 192 new affordable homes, including 38 one and two-bedroom apartments.

An additional 123 homes for affordable rent and 31 for shared ownership have also been built on land to the rear of the hospital building.

But having lain empty for so long, few have seen the now ghostly interior of the building, which lies just off the Ring Road, for almost three decades. We were given an exclusive tour inside the vast three-storey former hospital, which had 80 beds when it first opened.

It’s a somewhat eerie feeling. Walking up the front steps and into the hospital’s former chapel – which still retains its stained glass windows – wandering down the long echoey corridors, peering inside the pitch dark of the former morgue, and through the large vacant wards. It is certainly a step back in time and quite an experience.

Corporate director of development for whg, Rebecca Bennett Casserly, said: “It is nothing short of a privilege to be involved in bringing new life and purpose to the Royal Hospital building itself and the surrounding grounds.

"As long-term investors, whg also then gets to ensure the stewardship of the new, vibrant place to live is looked after and the new, multi-generational community thrives.

“Of course, we couldn’t have done any of the physical regeneration without the progressive partnership we have with Jessup – they secured the site in the first place from whg Homes England.