Groups hoping to save Perth City Hall have just three months to set out their vision for a future use, backed up by detailed funding proposals.
The search for an alternative to plans to demolish the Edwardian listed building and replace it with a civic square was forced on the council after Historic Scotland recommended to the Scottish Government that more effort should be made to find a new use for the building.
A marketing exercise was undertaken and an undisclosed number of notes of interest were lodged. It has now emerged that those interested parties have until May 1 to lodge their detailed submissions.
Jones Lang LaSalle, who are marketing the empty civic building on behalf of the council, have outlined the next steps that must be taken.
They said: “The council is offering a long lease of the city hall.
“Proposals involving the purchase of part or the whole of the property will not be considered.”
To enable the council to assess the commercial viability of each proposal, interested parties will have to provide as much information as possible, including how they propose to fund the project and the availability of such funds.
The economic benefits of any project and the estimated resident and visitor expenditure produced by the plan should also be outlined.
The proposals will then be scored on commercial terms, proposed use and design, commercial viability, funding and economic benefit.
How many proposals will proceed to the next stage is uncertain, as the council is not discussing how many notes of interest have been received since fresh efforts have been made to find a new use.
The only venture to reveal its intentions so far has been Perth City Market Trust, which wants to create a “destination attraction” that members claim could reverse Perth’s slide as a mecca for shoppers.
They maintain that if their plan is accepted by the council as the way ahead, work could start in 12 months’ time.
“The Perth City Market Trustees are delighted to have received the invitation from Jones Lang LaSalle on behalf of Perth and Kinross Council to proceed to the final stage of remarketing the city hall,” said a spokesman for the trust.
“This requires submission of detailed financial and management proposals by noon on Wednesday May 1.
“It follows presentation last November 28 at the interim stage of the competition of an ‘outline development proposal’, which described and architecturally illustrated the trust’s fully worked-out scheme for restoration of the building and its conversion to create Scotland’s first food market hall on the main floor, plus a new tourist shop and visitor centre constructed within the existing entrance hall, together with a new first floor, designed for youth enterprise activities, and a top floor at roof level for restaurants. The drawings have been widely publicised.
“This project is actively supported by two Prince of Wales Trusts the Regeneration Trust and the Foundation for Building Community and is gathering support from local traders, who welcome the huge contribution it will make to the desperately-needed regeneration of the city centre. The trust’s motto is ‘revitalize the city hall to revitalize the city centre’.
“The trustees are confident that their contractors could be starting work one year from now, with the market hall fully operational well before Christmas the year after.”