Historic care home could be demolished

Nov 9 2012 by Stuart Wilson, Ayrshire Post

A historic care home that was gutted by fire could be set for demolition.

Templeton House in Ayr was destroyed by a blaze in July this year and now its owners, who want to rebuild, have been told they must tear down the entire site.

A report by structural engineers has labelled the 19th century villa “effectively beyond remediation”.

And an application for complete demolition has now been put before planning bosses at South Ayrshire Council.

The building, which is not listed, has been mired in controversy since council chiefs closed it in 2009.

A bid to overhaul the site and build an 88 bedroom super-home was knocked back last year.

And the site’s new owners, Care Concern GB (Ltd), have now been told they must demolish to proceed with any further plans.

But council chiefs are now being lobbied to reject the advice in the report by structural engineers, Clancy Consulting.

Top Ayrshire architect, Patrick Lorimer, says in his objection to the council: “Racecourse Road has no equal in the south west of Scotland and it would be criminal to allow further degradation of this unique piece of townscape.”

Fellow objector, Sheila McIlwraith, added: “The destruction of Templeton House, a building of integrity and charm, would be very damaging to the surrounding area.”

The consultants’ report states the fire damaged building is on the edge.

It says: “The front façade of the villa is the only part of the building which could conceivably be retained.

“It would, however, be necessary to carry out a very careful demolition and downtaking operation to the rest of the building to even allow a realistic assessment of the damage caused to this wall to be made.

“This would be a considerably more expensive operation than a standard demolition and it is quite probable that even then it would prove unviable to retain the façade.”