IF YOU’RE being polite you would call East Float Mill pioneering. If you’re being honest, you will ask the burning question: why? As in why would anybody want to live in a former corn warehouse in the middle of post-industrial nowhereland in Wallasey, Merseyside? It is not a particularly lovely building architecturally, and neither are the interiors stunningly high spec. So what’s the attraction, apart from the rusty old submarine moored near by? “You’ll be in at the beginning of the regeneration of this part of Merseyside, you’re getting a bigger flat than you might find in the city centre and the prices are affordable,” says Marie Wilkinson, head of sales at the Liverpool office of Knight Frank, which has acted as consultants to the £19 million scheme and is handling the sale.

That’s true. One-bedroom flats start at £94,950, two-bedroom flats will be from £99,950. The biggest is 1,689 sq ft, the smallest a still roomy 576 sq ft. In downtown Liverpool, across the Mersey, the average price of a flat sold in the first three months of this year was £133,947, according to the Land Registry. But only 21 shifted. If flats are not selling “over the water”, why would they sell in Wallasey? Wilkinson believes that reasonable pricing is a key factor. She reports that pre-launch interest in East Float Mill has been high — 1,000 potential buyers have registered. Inquiries have come, inevitably, from investors and local people who want to commute to Liverpool, and within the wider Wirral area, where the jobs are. The M53, which gives access to Ellesmere Port and Chester, is a few minutes’ drive from East Float Mill. Each flat comes with a parking space, a clever move to attract those who might traditionally have chosen an estate house with a drive. The option of extra spaces per household has been explored, but is not confirmed.

East Float docks themselves date back to 1850; the warehouse, built later, comprises two five-storey buildings. These were once linked through the middle by a small dock. There is potential for 168 residential units in total, but the planning process has not yet started on the smaller warehouse. New owners will be looking at a semi-derelict neighbour for some time to come. Gregor Shore, the Scottish-based developer of the site, is also considering putting up a new block of flats next door, so residents will have to like builders.

The first phase, in the larger building, faces a dock and has 112 flats over five floors. For views towards the Liverpool waterfront and the iconic Liver Building, the top floors are obviously preferable. Some of those have roof terraces, which is a plus. Not all the windows, which are wooden-framed and double-glazed, are huge, and they have high sills, which means that you have to stand up to see out.

For light and air, the best flats are the one-bedroom, double-height ones on the ground floor. These have a mezzanine bed platform, a useful study-storage area, and large glass doors, which open either on to a small, private dockside terrace, or the planned interior courtyard, where the internal dock once ran. Shops and restaurants may be forthcoming at that level, but certainly not until enough residents have moved in to make them viable.

Inside the flats the specification is as neutral as it gets. There are no fancy names or flash finishes, and the heating is electric. There are white bathrooms with mock-limestone tiles, greige kitchen units and integrated appliances, carpeting, floor tiles and laminate flooring. White emulsion is standard. Oversize doors are a stylish touch. Also pleasing are the proportions. Every flat is slightly different, to fit into the quirks of the Grade II structure.

Many of the bedrooms, in particular, are larger than average for this kind of conversion, especially as sliding-door wardrobes are built in.

Some flats have a square central hallway reminiscent of early-20th-century mansion flats, which could provide plenty of scope for bookshelves, or for party-mingling. That’s if you can persuade your friends to come and visit. It might help to tell them that East Float Mill is about ten minutes by taxi from the centre of Liverpool. It’s also possible to walk to the ferry ports, where, if the novelty of taking a “ferry ’cross the Mersey” wears thin, you can take one to Dublin or Belfast.

Your nearest neighbours in Wallasey are a close-knit working-class community, living in traditional terraced houses, so don’t expect a jumping bars ’n’ delis scene. For essential shopping, Bidston Moss retail park has a Tesco and a B&Q, and is five minutes by car. Wallasey itself and Birkenhead are other nearby retail excursions: Birkenhead has benefited already from extensive regeneration and is proud of its Georgian Hamilton Square.

Next month Wirral Borough Council will announce details of a 15-year regeneration masterplan for Wallasey. The Victorian migrants who set off for the New World from the docks around East Float Mill took their life in their hands. If you’re following suit to Wallasey, you might do well to get in before the rush. Conversions always retain value better than new-build, and frankly there’s not much else worth converting around here.

East Float Mill: Knight Frank, Liverpool, 0151-236 1101

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