The church renovation project which towers above city centre

An empty Cardiff church has been transformed into 16 homes - including one which occupies its eight-storey tower. Joanne Ridout meets the men behind the ambitious renovation

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HERE are unusual houses, amazing apartments, and special smallholdings across Wales which can impress but not many people can call an eight-storey church tower in the centre of a city home.

Standing majestically at the corner of Newport Road and Glossop Road, the Church of St James The Great is a landmark Cardiff building which most long-term city residents will know even if they haven't been inside.

The church was built between 1891 and 1894 and designed by EM Bruce Vaughan and was Grade II-listed by Cadw in 1975, amended in 1997, for being "a masterpiece of Vaughan, whose finely composed tower and spire is a key feature on the Newport Road approach to the city centre and for group value with Cardiff Royal Infirmary".

It closed in September 2006 due to dwindling attendance and stood empty for many years until intrepid restorers decided to take on the epic project of converting it into 16 incredible homes, including the tower with its spire.

But what makes two entrepreneurial business partners - 62-year-olds John Conroy and Hermann Beck who have rescued and restored their own listed hotel in Sheffield - decide to risk so much on a project which was massively challenging in its planning and delivery and many miles away?

John reveals the easy answer: he is from Cardiff and has always been aware of this magnificent church which greets you on your way into the city centre from the east and could not let the building die.

As the last dwelling to be completed, The Tower is arguably the most memorable.

John said: “It has been a labour of love, there's no doubt about that at all, and its had its tortuous moments but now it’s done it's a complete ‘wow.

“It is so individual - any time we bring people to the site to see it they immediately say: ‘Can we go to the tower?’ There is something so special about it that people want to see - it really is quite something.”