LEISURE entrepreneur Stefan King's G1 Group has snapped up one of Glasgow's landmarks with the purchase of the former BBC Scotland headquarters in the west of the city.

The Herald understands the major deal with the Royal Bank of Scotland was concluded last week, after months of speculation that the Scotland-wide bar and club chain was interested in the property.

G1 will soon begin work to renovate the building -- which developers had once planned to turn into a luxury hotel.

It will now become G1’s new head office and the company is to discuss options for the historic building with local authority planners.

It is unclear how much Mr King’s company paid for the Queen Margaret Drive property, which was part of a much larger site sold by the BBC to developers for £18 million in 2008.

About 100 G1 Group staff members will relocate to the site including the management, operations, marketing, call centre and IT teams.

News the building is to be developed rather than fall into ruin has been welcomed, but G1’s recent history in the west end will guarantee the project will be closely studied by local residents and interest groups.

The firm’s proposal for a nightclub within the neighbouring Botanic Gardens was axed by the council after a successful two-year campaign by residents, academics and celebrities.

The BBC moved out of its former Scottish HQ early in 2008 for a new state-of-the-art building at Pacific Quay.

Developers Applecross, Esk and Blackrock bought the site and planned to build 185 flats and three townhouses.

They also applied to turn the A-listed former North Park House into a five-star, 85-bedroom “boutique” hotel.

The hotel -- overlooking the River Kelvin and Botanic Gardens and due to have been named The Hamilton, was given revised permission in May 2009 to increase its capacity to 120 bedrooms, along with a leisure spa, bars and restaurants.

It was projected to open this year, creating 150 jobs and had an estimated price tag of £26m.

However, Applecross went bust in 2009, throwing the plans into disarray. RBS then bought the site to protect an investment.

The project also involves a smaller building designed by architect John Keppie with input from a young Charles Rennie Mackintosh, and a concert hall.

North Park House was built in 1869 as a suburban hideaway for the eccentric Victorian pottery magnate John Bell. It later became Queen Margaret College, aimed at improving educational opportunities for women. The BBC took it over in 1935.

Recently the building has been occupied by a team of “live-in guardians”, students who have been allowed to rent rooms in the mansion for just £45 a week to protect it from squatters and vandals.

And although G1’s name has been associated with the site for several years, confirmation of the purchase has only just been announced.

G1 Group said that in the past year it had experienced one of the largest periods of expansion in its 20-year history and had outgrown its offices at Virginia House in the Merchant City where it has been since 1993.

Group operations director David McDowall said: “The prospect of G1 being based in a building with such a creative history is extremely exciting.

“Everyone in the team is looking forward to working in such a stimulating environment and genuinely feels the building and location reflects the ethos of our steadily growing company and our ambition to remain at the cutting edge of the hospitality industry in Scotland.”

Ralph Green, head of the Buckingham, Hamilton and Ruskin Residents’ Association, said: “G1 is looking at this as a commercial venture and we await with interest what may be in their planning application. Clearly we’d want to co-operate with that, in the interests of the people in the area.

“But we don’t want the property lying dormant.”

Mr Green said he hoped his group’s plans for a wild flower meadow on the part of the BBC site which had been earmarked for housing still goes ahead.