Work on a £60m residential development at Gloucester Docks should start this year.

The 10-storey development set to transform a derelict area of the city secured a minded to grant planning consent in April last year, however the consent wasn't issued until the summer.

Changes to Building Regulations meant work was slightly delayed.

Adrian Goodall, director of Rokeby Developments, which is delivering the scheme, said: "Parts F, L, O and S of the Building Regs have changed, the Building Safety Act has been introduced and all tall buildings need to have two cores.

"We thought we were ahead of these changes, however the HSE advised that we had to get the tower building built up to ground floor level by April 24, which we simply couldn't do. We have now had to submit a non-material amendment for these changes."

He told Punchline-Gloucester.com editor, Mark Owen, that heritage works on the scheme are costly.

"This is eating money, both in terms of scaffolding hire and dilapidation of the fabric. We have to do a full archaeological recording of the outside and a further recording of the shell walls, and submit detailed repair and restoration statements, as well as the technical design before we can start.

"And our funders require all this to be resolved before we do start."

But Mr Goodall is confident that work on site will begin in October this year, with key milestones reached at the end of this month.

The overall development will consist of a new 10-storey building, with the restored five-storey Downings Malthouse behind it.

The 10-storey block of flats will be built on the site of the former concrete silo. The overall scheme will deliver 117 apartments, ranging from studio to three bedrooms.

Key dates going forward are:

• Submit the repair and restoration statement - April 30

• Go out to tender - April 30

• Discharge listed conditions by August 30

• Start on site in October

• Complete High Orchard Street Warehouse in October 2025

• Complete Downings Malthouse in April 2026

Works to Malthouse Extension and Tower will overlap and follow on, with the whole ambitious scheme set to be finished in late 2027 or early 2028.