THE Blenheim House office building in the east end of Edinburgh city centre has been bought by property development and investment business Chris Stewart Group for more than £5 million.

Edinburgh-based Chris Stewart Group plans to modernise the office building, which offers 35,000 sq ft of Grade A space over five floors and was bought from Belgate Estates.

The company said Blenheim House, at the foot of Calton Hill, had been built originally to a high specification for life and pensions business Scottish Equitable.

Chris Stewart Group plans to complete the Blenheim House refurbishment by autumn 2017, and then offer it for a “single occupancy or multi-let”.

Chris Stewart Group said that it owned and managed ongoing real estate developments “to the value of more than £125 million” in Edinburgh city centre.

It noted that these included The Registers regeneration project on the south-east corner of St Andrew Square, and Baxter’s Place, which is being developed for the first Courtyard by Marriott hotel in Edinburgh.

Chris Stewart, chief executive of the property business, said of the Blenheim House acquisition: “This is a fantastic building in an equally fantastic location - it simply needs some investment to ensure it meets the technology standards and quality expectations of Edinburgh businesses.

“The plan is to upgrade the offices for occupancy from early 2017 and we are confident that there will be a lot of interest.”

He added: “There is strong demand for high quality office accommodation in Edinburgh and, with the developments happening in the east end of Edinburgh’s city centre, this building will add to the overall regeneration being seen around the St James Quarter, Baxter’s Place and Calton Hill.”