WORKS to repair a trading estate building destroyed by fire are progressing – as shop owners say they are keen to return to the site after lockdown.

On July 7, 2018, a fire tore through part of the Tower Building at St Michael's Trading Estate in Bridport, destroying art studios and offices.

Six tenants were displaced immediately after the fire and 14 were moved in the longer term.

After a lengthy delay, extensive work to restore the site to its former glory began in November in a move which was welcomed by traders.

Haywards and Co, which owns the estate, stated the delay was due to dragged out negotiations between themselves, loss adjusters and contractors.

A deal was then agreed for the Jones Building Group to carry out the works on the estate.

Restoration and repair work was originally expected to be completed in May of this year, but is now looking like it will not be completed until June, with the project running three weeks behind schedule.

The delay is mainly down to a requirement to replace scaffolding which was erected more than two years ago.

Clocktower Music has been hidden from the road by the scaffolding since 2018.

The shop's owner, Roy Gregory, said: "The works feel like they're going to be going on for a while but at least they've started.

"Work is progressing bit by bit and there is people working on site every day which is all we can ask for really.

"I'm very keen for it to open but given that we're not expecting, realistically, to be able to reopen until around May time, the three week extension doesn't make much difference in the grand scheme of things.

"In an ideal world we'll return after lockdown with the work completed and the main road will be opened up to the estate which will benefit everybody."

A spokesman for Haywards and Co said: "Currently the work is three weeks behind schedule due mainly to the requirement to replace the extensive scaffolding that had been in place for two years to protect the building from the elements while negotiations continued with loss adjusters and insurers to agree costings and the extent of the insurance cover.

"The works have not been delayed by coronavirus as the government is encouraging construction sites to continue in operation although stringent procedures must be followed.

"This includes a Covid box where temperatures are taken every morning on arrival on site."

Workers from Jones Building Group are currently operating on the first floor of the Tower Building. Above them would have previously been a large second floor area but the entirety of the second floor was completely destroyed by the fire.

The spokesman added: "There has also been some delay due to the discovery of what site foreman Richard McElliott has described as ‘some very interesting old construction techniques'.

"This is not surprising as most of the building is more than 100-years-old and would have been constructed well before the introduction of building control regulations."

Twelve fire engines were called out to deal with the blaze in 2018, which was believed to have been accidental, with Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service saying at the time that the cause could have been 'an electrical issue or through refracted light on combustible materials'.