A FORMER police station is being developed while preserving its historic past.

The cells will be used as meeting rooms for Pocknells Accountancy, the South Woodham Ferrers business moving into the building.

Luke Wait, 35, is the owner of Wait Edwards building firm, which is renovating the building.

He has lived in Maldon his whole life and has a vision alongside business partner John Holliday, 37, to preserve the look of the police station while getting the building set up for the accountancy offices.

John runs Pocknells, which launched in 1989, and now has a team of more than 30 people.

The firm hopes the new office will allow them to expand and take on more staff, including apprentices.

They are now looking for people to share pictures, stories and information to help them complete the interior of the building with artefacts from its history.

Luke said: “We want to try and keep as much history as we can. It was going to be sold to another company who were going to completely rip it out.

“It’s going to look like an old police station from the outside and from the inside we want to lean on the history a bit.

“We're keeping the cells - they are going to be meeting rooms.

“We are trying to keep as many of the old features as we can.

“We want to keep the original sash windows and the exterior of the building will be restored and decorated.

“We’ve had people come past who have said they know some people who were police officers. We’d love to know more about the history.

“I am surprised the building isn’t listed. The only thing that has protection on the site is the tree in the car park.

"It has been shut and left empty for five years now. It’s just a case of getting it back up and running.

“If anyone has any pictures or memories of the place, we would love for them to get in touch.”

To contact Luke about the history of the building, email lukewaitedwards@gmail.com.