Council weighs up Interfloor site redevelopment role

A council is to decide whether or not to play a role in the redevelopment of a large derelict factory on the outskirts of Dumfries.

The local authority in Dumfries and Galloway is being asked to submit an expression of interest in the former Interfloor site at Heathhall.

If it does so it could open the door to the regeneration of the building which has been vacant for many years and has fallen into serious disrepair.

A report to councillors stressed that its role would be as a “facilitator” rather than taking on any redevelopment itself or long-term ownership.

The sprawling site was recently declared “bona vacantia” – ownerless – meaning it falls to the Crown.

The council is being asked to consider submitting an expression of interest to the King’s and Lord Treasurer’s Remembrancer (KLTR) which has authority to deal with the property.

Under its Ownerless Property Transfer Scheme (OPTS) public bodies can acquire a building at a price “often well below market value”.

A report to the council said that a “number of parties” had shown an interest in the potential redevelopment of the site.

It said that if the local authority agreed to submit an expression of interest to the KLTR then those talks could be “progressed at pace to identify a preferred solution”.

It stressed that would allow the council to try to secure “long-term developer interest” in the site rather than take up any hands-on redevelopment role of its own.