The building was built by the town council to accommodate the growing number of administrative staff. Work was started in 1862 by Liverpool Corporation surveyor John Weightmans, and finished by Edward Robert Robson in 1868.

The building was put up for sale by the council in 2016 as it was deemed "surplus to requirements" and too expensive to run and maintain. The sale of the building to a Singapore-based property developer Fragrance Group was announced in January 2016. The property developers plan to turn the building into a 4-star hotel.

The new hotel is having the basements waterproofed using Type C cavity drain membranes. This is a vast space totalling over 50 rooms and over 6500m2 of below ground waterproofing.

Designs by the team at Wykamol started nearly 1 year ago in 2020 where site visits and specialist drawings were submitted for approval to the engineers and architects, these were approved. Further site visits were then undertaken over the last 12 months to iron small details with drainage and gulley issues as well as areas where the existing rooms were being left to showcase equipment that was used within the structure itself.

The Type C cavity drain membranes are all 8mm Heavy duty, alongside an expansive perimeter drainage system.

Any cut offs from the membrane were collected and recycled, another huge benefit for the client that no waste will go into the landfill.

An insulated floor spacer is being installed to create a rebate for the perimeter channel to sit in, as well as having drainage grooves on the underside of the spacer, to direct water to the perimeter channel.

New drains are being installed throughout the property, so a gravity fed drainage system is being used.

Site visits are being carried out every fortnight over the 5-month contract to ensure that the installation of the system is kept to Wykamol’s specific designs and to sign sections off for the engineers.