Investigations are expected to begin today into the huge fire that devastated a north-east care home.
The blaze that broke out at the former Blythewood House care home in Port Elphinstone, Inverurie on Sunday destroyed its roof and much of the first floor.
More than 50 firefighters spent much of the day attempting to save the sprawling granite property, which had lain disused for 18 months.
Crews have been praised for successfully preventing the flames from spreading to other properties.
Nonetheless, by the time they left the scene at midnight the roof of the building had been almost completely destroyed.
And the scale of the fire meant that an investigation could not start yesterday due to concerns over the structural integrity of the property.
Crews did return to check for “hot spots” that could potentially cause another fire to break out and a fire service spokeswoman confirmed inquiries would likely start today.
Developer Bill Beattie purchased the former care home from Aberdeenshire Council in 2016 and announced his intention to convert the site into flats late last year.
Mr Beattie said it remained unclear what caused the fire to break-out and admitted he had been unable to assess the damage.
He nonetheless hopes it will not derail his plans.
“I don’t have any information at this stage as the building is still under the control of the fire service,” Mr Beattie said.
“The damage is something we can deal with, although I don’t know the full extent of it as I’ve not been able to get onto the site.
“There are various options for the site and it’s currently going through the council’s planning process.”
The property was first converted into a care home in the early 1950s but its residents have since been moved to the new £10million Bennachie View facility.
The terms of the sale included a requirement that 50% of any housing development on the site be affordable.
