A PREFERRED BUYER has been identified for the former council offices and surrounding grounds at Blairvadach, near Helensburgh.

A report to Helensburgh and Lomond councillors states that Argyll and Bute Council has received an unspecified number of offers or expressions of interest for the site in Shandon, which has been earmarked for up to 115 houses in the authority's local development plan.

Property development manager Ross McLaughlin's report, presented to members of the authority's Helensburgh and Lomond area committee last week, stated: “A closing date for the sale of the property was set for August 4 and offers/expressions of interest were received and considered in liaison with the council’s selling agents.

“The property is fairly challenging to develop due to the sloping topography, presence of the listed building and large number of units involved/phasing.

“This is reflected in the offers that have been received which require detailed analysis in terms of the deliverability of scheme, capital receipt, certainty and phasing of payments.

“The council is engaging with a preferred purchaser to clarify these matters.

“It is likely that any sale shall be predicated on achieving planning permission and other consents which shall take several months to conclude.”

A previous report to the area committee, in September, revealed that a film company has enquired about leasing the site for five months next year for an unspecified TV series, but there was no further update on that front at the committee's latest meeting.

Blairvadach House itself was used as the council's Helensburgh and Lomond planning and building control office before staff moved to the new Helensburgh and Lomond Civic Centre in 2015.

Receipts from the sale, if and when completed, will be used to offset the Civic Centre's building costs.

The house itself was built as a mansion for politician and manufacturer Sir James Anderson in 1850, and was later used as a children's hospital, while the grounds were used to house prisoners of war towards the end of World War 2 and later for emergency civilian housing