Madras College’s Kilrymont building to go up for sale

The Kilrymont Campus of Madras College in St Andrews will be put up for sale, due to the new build high school.

The current building will remain in use until the new school opens its doors in August 2021. However, the council has said that its status as a listed building might make it difficult to attract developers.

At the assets and corporate committee on Thursday, council officer Michael McArdle, advised councillors that advertising the building now would help speed up the sale process.

Cllr Kathleen Leslie asked about the listed building status, saying: “The report says there is a presumption against demolition. In what case would we allow demolition? How long is it advertised before we can say there is no interest in it? Does that mean at some point it could be demolished?”

Mr McArdle said: “There is a process to go through. The presumption would be that the building stays on the site. But if businesses are saying it’s not a viable development opportunity, then we would take it to Historic Scotland and make the case for demolition.”

He added: “Generally they do accept those cases as they understand there’s not always the ability to retain buildings.”

Cllr Jonny Tepp asked how long the building had to be advertised before the case could be made to Historic Scotland.

Mr McArdle said there was no set amount of time, but it had to be “reasonable”, adding: “Usually at least a year to say that there is no interest out there.”

Councillors all agreed to advertise the building.