Talk about putting new wine into old bottles: many a long-time Witney resident must remember the Witney Workhouse on Tower Hill, largely demolished in 1979. Demolished, that is, except for the workhouse chapel and the administrative block - which still stand at the entrance to what has become a housing estate, built in 2004.

Now building firm LEC Construction, which owner Luke Carter started last year, has turned the chapel into swish offices, modern in style but still retaining the chapel's Victorian feel, so maintaining a link with the past.

Mr Carter, 27, said: "It was a labour of love of which I am very proud. I am taking one of the offices myself for LEC Construction, another is more or less let already, and the third is still on the market at about £1,000 a month."

The £400,000 conversion is now nearing completion after about eight months work.

Mr Carter said: "I have property development and construction work in the blood, and my father's company, Carson Country Homes, was the developer here."

He started his career working for his father and then decided he could branch out on his own in construction work, specialising to some degree in improving or converting older buildings. Now he employs 12 people.

He added: "We turned over £1.25m last year and we are hoping to double that next year - despite difficult market conditions.

"That might be optimistic, but that is the hope anyway."

But how can he justify such a hope in present credit-crunch conditions?

"Well, I am always bullish and pro-active. And I am building on the success I have had in building two extensions to houses in Henley and Wargrave. Our motto is that we deliver within budget and on time and people appreciate that."

He also has a development company, LEC Developments. He said: "With my development hat on, I must say that if I cannot sell properties, I can still let them out. And the rents will certainly cover the costs. The rental market is strong."

But back to his labour of love - the chapel. He bought the building in a decrepit and unloved state three years ago and, after a legal tussle over an access issue, he got down to the business of saving it.

He explained: "The developers of the houses around the building had a 106 agreement, which meant they had to provide a place of business on the site - and this is that place of business."

The chapel - strangely enough, some might say - is not listed. However, the planners insisted its best features be preserved. Bizarrely, this meant Mr Carter had to reconstruct the main entrance to the old chapel, which once adorned its porch, as a stand-alone Gothic monument outside the new offices.

The archway alone cost £15,000 to reconstruct. Mr Carter said resignedly: "It has not been a cheap job, but everyone concerned has been happy to do the work really well."

Architect George Wilkinson, himself Witney born and bred, designed the original workhouse in 1835 - and then went on to build several more in England and Ireland. However, the chapel was not built until 1861, and was designed by his brother William.

During the First World War, the workhouse was used to house prisoners of war but after 1930 it became a Public Assistance Institution.

In the Second World War, it was turned over to engineering firm Crawford Collets - which was involved in armaments and employed many people evacuated from London.

The chapel was used by Crawford Collets as the works canteen, and lives on in the memory of many ex-employees.

Witney resident Denise Barkley said: "My mum, who was an accounts clerk, and her mum, the company cook, were evacuated to Witney from London in the war with Crawfords, and they lived in a flat at the top of the old Witney workhouse."

But the cleverness of LEC's conversion lies in the fact that former workers would probably still recognise the old place, even though it has had two new extensions.

Mr Carter said: "One of our hardest tasks was undoing some of the alterations made during the chapel's time as a works canteen."

The series of Gothic windows, for instance, mimicing their Victorian predecessors, had to be not only carefully reconstructed but also worked in such a way as to disguise a concrete beam.

Mr Carter said: "We got around that problem by disguising the beam with very thin slithers of Cotswold stone."

Like all builders these days, Mr Carter realises he must learn fast about building in a way which produces the smallest carbon footprint. So what about the chapel's green credentials?

He said: "We bought in no new stone whatsoever and simply reused what was already there, including things like the carved mouldings."

The old workhouse was commissioned by the Witney Poor Law Union, formed in 1835 to comply with the Poor Laws. It housed 450 people and cost about £7,500 to build.

Now there is little to show of those sad times. But the name of the street off Tower Hill - formerly Razor Street - where the chapel stands reflects them: Union Way.