Progress in 2023 was slow. There was a huge amount of thick insulating plaster to dry out in the new almshouses, and a lot of wet mix floors to do the same. The new oak entrance doors swelled up and bent like barrels, but the spring and summer weather saw it all dry out, and the doors  resumed their original shape beneath further coats of wax. The garden was fully laid out, with new York stone paths and cobbled edges, the cobbles gather from excavation on site and field-walking in Long Clawson. It's a magic transformation, complete with a central lamp recalling Narnia. The lamp standard is one that used to adorn the streets of Melton in the gas light era.

Alas, the toings and froings between National Grid and County Highways led to endless delay in getting the high voltage cable to the new substation, which led to yet more delay in surfacing the yard, so the almshouses were not ready to occupy until July 2024, five years after the project started.