A date has finally been set for works to restore St Michael's Trading Estate Tower Building to start – more than two years after it was destroyed in a fire.

A fire ripped through work units and studios on July 7, 2018, displacing six tenants of the Hayward and Co owned estate in the immediate short term and 14 in the longer term. Scaffolding was erected to protect the building, but no work has been carried out.

Delays to the works - set to start this month - have been due to ongoing discussions between loss adjusters and the team at Haywards and Co as insurers insisted works have to be completed in a certain way and more quotes for rebuild works were needed.

In a letter to tenants, Martin Ridley of Haywards and Co, said: "The last few months have been spent working through a complex process of obtaining bids/tenders from six contractors to meet the requirements of the loss adjustors and our insurers. In mid-October, our recommendation that the contract should be awarded to Jones of Yeovil – who carried out the initial strip out and clearance works last year – was finally accepted.

"We will start to see some activity next week with a clean-up of 'bird debris and pigeon pollution', followed by the set-up of site compounds and office and welfare accommodation week beginning the 16th."

Actual building work will start on November 23. It is a 26-week programme and it's expected the contractors will be on site throughout the winter and well into spring 2021.

Mr Ridley added: "While this is great news and has been a long time coming, it does come with some inconveniences, for example, a reduction in the car parking spaces on the old Cattle Market and probably limited access at times during the contract period, for example a large crane is expected on site when the new roof is installed.

"So, we need to work with the contractors and help them deliver what is quite a complicated project but also to no lose sight of the objective – which is to get rid of that unsightly scaffolding and bring the Tower Building back to life."