A historic Aberdeenshire industrial building is in line for a new lease on life as a sheltered housing complex.
Aberdeenshire Council’s Garioch area committee yesterday granted full planning permission to plans to transform the foundry building on Inverurie’s Railway Locomotive Works site into 34 sheltered housing flats.
The B-listed building on the town’s Harlaw Road, the last derelict structure at the otherwise redeveloped Loco Works site, is in line to be demolished and rebuilt.
Kintore-based builders Malcolm Allan Housebuilders originally wanted to demolish all but one wall of the building, but altered the plans following consultations with Historic Scotland and Aberdeenshire Council’s planning service.
The west, south and east facades will be retained in their entirety and the granite stonework refurbished.
A middle section of the north wall will be demolished to make way for a garden.
Internal walls and extension near the south wall and the roof will also be removed, while several roof trusses will be reinstated as a feature.
Last night councillors welcomed the plans to bring the foundry building into the 21st century.
Inverurie and district Liberal Democrat councillor Martin Kitts-Hayes said: “We’re very fortunate that we have some iconic buildings in Inverurie, and some iconic designs. I’m all in favour of this, this is an excellent site, I have no concerns whatsoever about the quality of the works that will be done here.”
East Garioch councillor Martin Ford said: “The building is obsolete for it’s original, intended use, but much of the visual character will be preserved by this. It’s a very important site.
“A significant volume of the original building works still exists and you’re still going to see a building that looks like a railways building and the architecture of the time.”
Historic Scotland will have to be notified of the decision to grant planning permission to the plans.
Approval was granted despite the council’s department of environmental health raising concerns about the noise impact from the neighbouring Tesco supermarket on future residents.
Planning officers said they could support the planning application as they believed the supermarket would not produce a “significant adverse nuisance on residents”.