Hotel chain eyeing up city’s landmark building

AN award-winning hotel chain is poised to take over a landmark building in Tayside, raising hopes for scores of jobs and a millionpound boost to the local economy.

Henley Homes, the firm behind the Rogue City Hotel Group, has emerged as the preferred bidder for the former district court at the corner of High Street and Tay Street, in Perth.

The company runs the five-star Dunalastair Hotel Suites in Kinloch

Rannoch, as well as the Wellington in Glasgow and The Hobson in Cambridge. Bosses want to turn the turreted Fair City property into a boutique hotel.

The redevelopment is expected to create more than 70 jobs, plus 112 construction posts locally.

If successful, the hotel could pump about £1.12 million a year into the Perth economy, with £1m of extra GVA (Gross Value Added).

It is understood nearly £2m will be invested in the transformation. Perth and Kinross Council, which said the B-listed property is now surplus to requirements, confirmed negotiations with the firm are under way.

Council leader Murray Lyle said: “The building really is one of Perth’s treasures and this project will bring it back to life after it has sat mostly redundant.”

The building, which overlooks the River Tay, is part of a larger complex of council offices that dates back to 1879.

Part of the property facing Tay Street was sold in the 1980s for flats and the rest was used by the council until 2011, when the district court moved to the sheriff court building and the council’s economic development service went to Pullar House.

It was used as operation HQ for council officers during the G8 summit at Gleneagles in 2005.