Council officials want to spend almost £1m demolishing a B-listed building in Argyll and Bute.
The former Rothesay Academy building has been empty since 2007 and councillors have been told it is in a poor condition.
At a meeting next week they will be asked to approve the first step in demolishing it – permission from Historic Environment Scotland (HES) would be needed and the cost is estimated at £950,000.
A report to the council’s Bute and Cowal area committee states that converting and extending the building on Bute for use by Fyne Homes would cost £13.8m but lead to just £2.9m for its sale.
Security and maintenance is said to cost an average of £30,000 a year and the buildings are described as ‘a magnet for vandalism, fire-raising and anti-social behaviour’, with vandals using power tools to remove steel plates installed to keep them out.
The report adds: “It is important to note that the council is not simply seeking to remove the building but is seeking to regenerate the area in conjunction with Fyne Homes.
“The decision to request consideration of the proposed demolition of a B-listed building is not something that is done lightly.
“To have received a B listing means the building has significance historically and aesthetically.
“However there are situations where the future viable use of a listed building is so limited that consideration has to be given as to whether to retain it as a vacant monument or to consider demolition and for the site to be brought back into beneficial use.”
HES guidance states that demolition of listed buildings should only be considered in exceptional circumstances. but could be acceptable if It is ‘not economically viable to retain the building’.
The former school was opened in 1959 and designed by David Harvey.
HES’ Buildings At Risk register describes it as a ‘very fine modernist building’ and the listing designation states: “The former Rothesay Academy is an important example of secondary school architecture of the 1950s in Scotland.
“Prominently located on high ground facing the sea with commanding views over the town, the aspirational design breaks away from the Art Deco influences of the inter-war period.
“It uses overtly modernist devices such as narrow supporting columns (pilotis), sheer glazed curtain-wall classroom blocks and angular projections to emphasise its balanced, asymmetrical composition.
“It is one of a small number of post-war school buildings of this quality in the west of Scotland.”
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