Historic bottling site may be transformed in £10m homes plan

Stewart House, the former Stewart’s Cream of the Barley plant at Kingsway East, could be demolished and replaced with 90 houses under plans by Persimmon Homes and site owner Bruce Linton.

The properties, would be “in the typical Persimmon price range”, according to developers, putting a potential value on the proposals of more than £10 million.

The site sits directly across from Kingsway East fire station and is bordered by homes on two sides. It’s next to an area of land which is the subject of plans for a new Lidl supermarket and Costa coffee outlet. In a notice sent to local residents, Mr Linton (pictured) said Stewart House was now “all but vacant” and that issues with the building’s structure meant the time had come to redevelop the site. He said: “Speculative development of the site with new industrial buildings is not financially feasible so it is not my intention to reinstate the industrial use of the site.” A proposal of application notice has been logged with the council over the proposals, with more detailed plans set to follow at a later stage. The developers also hope to hold a public consultation on the development.

In 2012, plans to redevelop the Stewart House site with social housing fell flat.

An application was made for 57 homes by James Keiller Estates Ltd, which drew some concerns from residents about parking and traffic.

However, locals today said they would keep an open mind about the proposals — at least until more detailed plans were available.

Jane Reekie, 67, of Kingsway East — who has lived near the site for 25 years — said: “There have been proposals here before for social housing where they wanted to put about 100 houses in — I would have had 10 at the back of mine. It was too much.”

She said she’d have no objections if the plans included affordable housing, adding: “I understand there’s a need for more housing.”

Eileen Mackay, 70, a resident on Kingsway for 30 years, also said she would wait to see the proposals take shape, but added that she wouldn’t like to see too much built on the site.

She said: “I would like to see plans before I make up my mind.

“I wouldn’t like to see the site overdeveloped — if there was a nice, level number of houses I wouldn’t be upset.

“I would hope it is single-storey houses. The last time, the plans were for two and three-storey buildings and that is too much. I would object to that.”

The price of Persimmon homes for sale elsewhere in Tayside starts at £130,000, but many are up for grabs for more than £200,000.

A MAJOR development which could see a former Dundee whisky bottling plant replaced with dozens of homes has been unveiled.

Stewart House could be demolished to make way for the housing development.