Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Go-ahead for gym at former retail site
A FORMER retail centre is set to be transformed into a 24-hour gym under new plans given the go-ahead by Angus Council.
The House of Angus building at Ethiebeaton Park, Monifieth, was home to a variety of retail outlets and a cafe but has lain vacant sinceshutting in early 2018.
Now health club chain Pure Gym is set to move into the premises, with the club proposing to operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
There are no plans for additional floorspace, but the club would carry out a “small selection of external works”, including replacing the entrance doors and air conditioning condensers.
A full range of fitness equipment will be made available, as well as fitness classes for all abilities.
In a supporting document submitted by the developers, it was argued the gym proposals would “assist in safeguarding” the building’s future as an “established retail, leisure and visitor attraction”.
It was also outlined the 24/7 gym could operate “without detriment to the amenity of the area or adjacent occupants/users”.
Gardening retailer Dobbies – which operates its own unit next door – own the building and submitted the application to Angus Council in March.
A previous application had been lodged by Dobbies in September 2018, proposing to rebrand the building into an Edinburgh Woollen Mill destination centre.
The plans would have seen an investment of about £700,000, as well as the creation of up to 40 jobs, but the proposals failed to materialise and the unit remained vacant.
The House of Angus was first opened in 1999 and successfuly took advantage of its strategic position onff the A92.
The premises operated for 19 years as a department-store retail unit until its closure.
It is situated at the Ethiebeaton Park, which is also home to a McDonald’s, Premier Inn, Brewer’s Fayre and a David Lloyd leisure complex.