AERIAL photos have captured the beginning of a five-year journey to transform the former Severalls Hospital.

A drone camera flew over the site, off Boxted Road, Colchester, where work has begun to demolish 16 buildings to make way for 730 new homes.

Bloor Homes, Taylor Wimpey and Bellway will jointly develop the 104-acre site under the umbrella of the Severalls Consortium.

A spokesperson confirmed the final homes are set to be completed in 2021, on the Kingswood Heath part of the site, undertaken by Bloor Homes.

Construction work will begin here in September with the first set of homes earmarked for March 2017.

Groundworks are currently underway at the Whitmore Park area of the site, managed by Taylor Wimpey, and construction will continue for at least four years.

At Forest View, by Bellway Homes, works will begin in November with the first and second set of homes expected on the ground by summer 2017 and spring 2019.

Gemma Bannister, divisional sales manager at Bellway said: “We’re very happy to be able to address the issue of a lack of housing in the area and introduce Forest View, which will be a unique collection of Bellway homes on the former hospital site.

"Both phases will be expertly placed with the first phase located opposite the football ground and the second phase moving in towards the older part of the hospital grounds.

"The new homes will make such a difference to so many people in Colchester, as well as creating a brand new community for residents to enjoy.”

Councillor Mike Hogg, who worked at Severalls Hospital for 43 years as part of the electrical engineering team, is passionate about retaining its history.

He said: "Colchester is a growing town and we can't stand still, but we should take cognisance of the fact there's an enormous amount of history attached to this hospital.

"Even the fact it started as an asylum and finished as a psychiatric hospital, people don't know that."

Mr Hogg described the site as a village with generations of families working there. Before retiring nearly three years ago, he recovered one of the last set of spy holes from a padded cell door.

He added: "I donated them to Colchester Council for their museum services. These are works of art, which went through a 4-inch thick door and weighed half a ton.

"We shouldn't forget places like this because they're of huge social historical importance."