A PROPERTY company has launched a publicity drive for the planned redevelopment of one of Helensburgh's most handsome properties – although its purchase of the property has yet to be completed.

All Saints Living, based in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, says it expects to be on site at Morar House in Upper Colquhoun Street in November, with a completion date of December 2017.

The company is advertising the creation of six spacious apartments in the original A-listed house and a new-build extension within 1.59 acres of land in the grounds, also housing six apartments.

In addition, land within the grounds of the house also has planning permission for three large detached, contemporary properties.

All Saints Living says sales of the properties will launch in January 2017.

Sonali Craddock, the company's marketing director, said: “We hope to complete the purchase of this fantastic building very soon in order to carry out a tasteful and sensitive renovation, which will restore it to its former splendour.

“The house is unique and impressive. It is a listed William Leiper designed mansion, which is magnificently placed in 1.59 acres of grounds, with extraordinary views over the Clyde Estuary.

“Although it has been vacant for a number of years, there are still numerous original features present and we plan to incorporate into six spacious apartments in the original house. We would also develop a new build extension with six further apartments and three large detached homes within the grounds.

“Planning permission already exists for the majority of this redevelopment but we wish to slightly modify the internal layout of the existing building and incorporate a lift, which requires the new application.

We hope to get approval soon and be on site before the end of 2016. The project should take approximately a year to complete.”

The house has lain empty for the last ten years, but was bought by Edinburgh-based conservation architect Lorn Macneal for £322,000 at an auction in October 2012.

A previous application for the property was granted in 2014, despite objections from, among others, Helensburgh Community Council (HCC).

But a fresh application for the site was made in February of this year – and that, according to Argyll and Bute Council's website, has yet to be decided.

A council spokesperson said: “The 2014 planning permission is still live, and will remain live until 2017.

“We are considering a new application which is materially different from the original one approved in 2014. That new application will be considered in exactly the same way as any other.”

The most significant difference between the latest application for the site and the one granted in 2014 is a reduction, in the latest proposal, in the number of parking spaces at the development.

Other 'tweaks' to the latest application include works to outbuildings on the site and the installation of a lift to make it fully accessible to disabled users.

The latest application also attracted a more favourable response from the local community council than the previous proposal.

Kathleen Siddle, who wrote the community council's response to the new application but is no longer a full HCC member, warmly welcomed the proposal.

Ms Siddle, who now acts as an adviser to the community council's planning group and is a member of the new Architecture and Design Helensburgh panel, said: “HCC warmly welcomes this planning application, which would retain the external form of this important Grade A listed building.

“HCC is especially pleased that externally, according to the application, all masonry and external render elements would be restored and the roofing repaired, and the proposed building extension would have an empathy with the original building.”

Ms Siddle, however, voiced the community council's disappointment that the three proposed garden villas would be built to identical designs.

Morar House, formerly known as Drumadoon, was built for the McAlpine family who were proprietors of a shipping firm in Glasgow around 1901.

Like the internationally-renowned Hill House, which sits just yards away on the other side of the street, Morar House was carefully placed on the site to take full advantage of the view over the Clyde Estuary.

An impressive red tiled house, it is an extremely important building in the career of architect William Leiper, whose houses in Helensburgh in the later 19th and early 20th century have left an unique stamp on the character of the town.

However, while Hill House has been proposed as a world heritage site, and is now looked after by the National Trust for Scotland, the Leiper house fell into decay.

All Saints Living's restoration and new build project at Larbert House and Country Estate in Stirlingshire won a prize for the best restoration project in Scotland at the 2015 Real Estate and Property Awards.