Developer Kirkwood Homes wants to build 49 two-bedroom flats on Bellfield Street, where the now-closed St Joseph’s RC Primary School building still stands.

The company says the existing school building is “not suitable for conversion on grounds of practicality” and wants to knock it down and redevelop the site from scratch.

A statement with the plans, lodged on behalf of Kirkwood by Emac Planning, added: “Whilst a prominent location, the existing building is not considered to be of any architectural merit.

“The principle of redevelopment of the site should therefore be supported not only in terms of restoring a brownfield site but also the physical enhancement of this key site which will significantly improve the appearance of the street scene at this key movement junction.”

All the flats would be two-bedroom, with the buildings reaching between four and five storeys in height.

Planners have made provision for 74 car parking spaces, at a rate of 1.5 parking spaces per flat, in recognition of a lack of on-street parking in the area.

In keeping with modern developments, the flats would also include two electric car parking spaces and three disabled car parking spaces.

A total of 49 bicycle racks would also form part of the development, which would be kept “100% secure”.

Kirkwood insists the flats would “meet housing need both in terms of affordability and market demand”.

An application for the demolition of the existing 1920s school building — which closed to pupils in 2008 — was approved last year.

Kirkwood added that the building has had a series of problems since it bought it from the city council in 2012.

The statement said: “Recently, and due to a spate of vandalism in the area, the windows have been boarded up when they have been broken, resulting in 70% of the windows being boarded up.

“There is currently no gas supply into the property as it was disconnected in July 2016 following a flood in the basement.”

Kirkwood announced plans in January to acquire six new sites in 2017 after doubling its credit facility to £20 million with Bank of Scotland, though its plans to build 150 new houses in the Broughty Ferry area of Dundee were rejected by councillors in November despite having been recommended for approval by council officers.