Crieff councillors joined Kingdom Housing Association chairperson Charles Milne to mark the beginning of a £1.9 million project that will transform a long-abandoned hotel in the Perthshire town’s High Street into 14 flats for affordable rent.

The former Crown Hotel on Crieff’s East High Street ceased trading 17 years ago and has deteriorated over the years to become unsafe and dilapidated. It will now be demolished and replaced by a mix of one and two-bedroomed high quality, energy efficient flats with car parking facilities below. The new flats will be completed to a high standard to complement the site’s location in a conservation area. Demolition work will begin on October 6.

The project is the first to be undertaken in Crieff by Fife-based Kingdom, which recently completed a mid-market rent development in the Perthshire village of Abernethy, and has received financial support for the Crieff flats from the Scottish Government and Perth and Kinross Council.

Mr Milne said: “Kingdom is very pleased to be able to contribute to the continuing regeneration of Crieff’s town centre and, at the same time, to provide badly needed homes for affordable rent. This is an exciting project for us. It has been several years in the pipeline, so it is great to see work now getting underway.

“Wherever we seek to develop housing, we also seek to pay heed to the wishes of the local community and in choosing this site we were mindful of Crieff’s Community Action plan where the need for the provision of affordable housing was identified along with a requirement to find solutions to redundant and derelict buildings.”

He added: “Although Kingdom Housing Association have committed substantial funds to this project it could not be undertaken without the support and partnership of other funders and I would like to put on record our thanks to the Scottish Governments Affordable Housing Supply Programme, the Town Centre Housing Fund and also to Perth and Kinross Council. This complicated redevelopment work has also required strong partnership links with the council’s planning department and BEAR Scotland.”

The new flats will be built by Campion Homes to a design by Sinclair Watt Architects. On completion the houses will remain in the ownership of Kingdom but will be maintained and managed by Perth-based Fairfield Housing Co-operative.

Crieff councillor Anne Younger said: “I am very pleased that Kingdom Housing Association have had the vision and endurance to develop the Old Crown Hotel into affordable and energy efficient flats on the high street of Crieff.”