October 17 2024

A derelict 18th-century mansion near Dykes of Gray on the outskirts of Dundee is to be saved under new plans to convert the building into an 18-bedroom hotel.

The A-listed House of Gray near Invergowrie is a classical country house dating from 1712-16. Still, it has remained vacant and boarded up since 2009 despite approval for its conversion to apartments.

The latest re-use proposal comes courtesy of Gauldie Wright & Partners who propose the replacement of vandalised windows and doors with double-glazed replicas and specialist repairs to its lime mix render facade following the removal of vegetation and graffiti. Cast-iron rainwater goods will also be replaced with replicas while exterior stairs, handrails and balustrades are restored.

Justifying planned interior works, which will see non load bearing partitions removed, the applicant wrote: "Generally, walls are to be stripped back to the original stonework then replastered.Existing facings, skirtings and architraves are to be removed and replaced with a similar profile to the existing. This is to allow the correct doorsets to be installed to achieve the correct fire integrity within the building. The existing detailed features to the main entrance will be repaired and retained. To add, most of the existing doors are not original.

"New cornicing throughout building to bring back historical features. The proposed new walls require an hour fire integrity and this needs to be certified by the product supplier. Lath and plaster does not have any certification so this can’t be used. We propose to tape and fill new walls to retain separation between the original building and new walls/elements."

Externally a patio will be laid above a new plant room.  

2 Comments

#1 Posted by Gideon on 17 Oct 2024 at 10:55 AM

I give it a couple of months before a mysterious fire burns it to the ground, like so many other heritage buildings in Scotland..

#2 Posted by Mark on 20 Oct 2024 at 14:04 PM

It will be great if the House of Gray is finally saved. The last full-blown development scheme failed nearly 30 years ago when Latif Horton's company went bust, so it's sat boarded up much longer than post-2009.
https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/12642402.plan-to-restore-mansion-to-hotel/

#1 - I sincerely hope you're wrong.

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