Military chiefs have unveiled plans to build a new missile tracking facility on one of the St Kilda islands.
A planning application for the redevelopment of the station on the island of Hirta has been lodged with Western Isles Council.
The Ministry of the Defence (MoD) has had a tracking facility on the isle since 1957, and it is connected to the missile testing range at Benbecula.
The National Trust for Scotland, which manages St Kilda along with the MoD, has welcomed the “sympathetic and sustainable” designs.
The new facility will be constructed on stilted foundations to minimise ground impact, with the lower segments of the buildings to be curtained with stone walls designed to blend into the St Kildan landscape.
Wood panelling will be put over the exterior walls, and the roofs will be planted with native St Kildan grasses.
The work is expected to take two years to complete.
The MoD is working with defence contractors QinetiQ and Skye-based architects Wittets on the plans, with Galliford Try International and Hugh Broughton Architects having been appointed to develop the design.
The redevelopment of the St Kilda station has been hailed as evidence of the MoD’s ongoing commitment to its facilities in the Western Isles, which remain economically important.
Susan Bain, the National Trust for Scotland’s property manager for St Kilda, said: “We have been very impressed by the extent to which the MoD and its partners have gone to make sure they come up with proposals that will enhance the existing site and are both sympathetic and sustainable in the vitally important context of St Kilda.
“Most traces of the buildings from the 1960s will be removed and their replacements will be entirely appropriate to the setting in terms of design profile and best environmental practice.
“Every detail has been considered, down to ensuring that there is no chance of contaminant flora or fauna from the mainland being brought to St Kilda during the construction phase.
“The military has a long association with St Kilda going back to World War I and we are very pleased to have worked in partnership with the MoD since 1957.”
St Kilda is about 40miles west of North Uist and the last residents were evacuated in 1930 by fisheries protection vessel, HMS Harebell.