BUILDERS will begin transforming the inside of the Royal George within a month.

Workmen will move into the former historic hotel as steel framework is constructed for the new shops in Regent Street.

Project manager Carl Taylor said previous guests at the Royal George would still recognise it once the work was done.

"The ballroom will be identical and although we are turning the dining room into an office we will keep the ornate ceiling," he said.

The lower floor will be altered to make room for a Loch Fyne restaurant and an old staircase will become little more than a fire escape. But Mr Taylor said his team wanted to preserve the Royal George's character.

"That is important in a place like this," he said.

There are currently 20 workmen on site preparing the ground for the new shops, offices and apartments.

A 35-ton crane is lifting metal frames into place more than 15ft above King Street.

Small devices that can spot if cracks have widened by as little as a millimetre are now monitoring the former hotel.

Two weeks ago workmen repaired a widening crack in the hotel. "Since the early days of us being on site we've been monitoring the cracks that were already there," said Mr Taylor.

On Friday, it emerged that several contractors had turned down the job because they thought it would be too difficult to access the site.

Soon sandstone bricks from Scotland will be delivered because Cheshire's sandstone is too fragile.

It will also take more than 450 wagon journeys to remove rubble from the site.

But Mr Taylor said last week that 40% of those trips had already been made with few complaints from traders or shoppers.

"We've covertly removed the excavation materials," he said. So far Starbucks coffee shop, celebrity chef Paul Heathcoate and a Loch Fyne restaurant have signed contracts with developer Philip Hughes.

A Knutsford firm of solicitors is also believed to be moving their offices into the £10million development.

Work is due to finish on April 13 next year barring any hiccups or bad weather.

On Friday Mr Taylor, who oversaw the building of the multi-million pound Bolton Wanderers' Reebok stadium, said people living and working near the site had been patient with the development.

"It has taken a lot of time and effort to get everything right," he said.