A planning application to build 39 flats, a gym and commercial units at the three-storey landmark building has been submitted to Fife Council.

The former grade-b listed mill building was most recently home to Fife College, forming part of its Priory Campus. However, the building closed its doors in 2016 as Fife College put greater focus on its nearby St Brycedale campus and Stenton facility in Glenrothes.

The site was sold for an undisclosed sum a year later but the building has lain empty for the past five years. It is now hoped the development could also spark new interest in the adjacent Round House and Priory building.

Both have been allowed to fall into disrepair and been the target of vandals in recent years, The Courier reports. 

EPD Homes has pledged to retain most of the original outer stone façade of the landmark site.

A design statement submitted to Fife Council said: “The conversion will reinvigorate and protect an important B-listed building close to Kirkcaldy town centre.

“It will provide the building with a secure future and will help build a positive and lively townscape within this section of the Merchants’ Quarter.

“The proposals look to restore a number of the original building features and remove later additions not in with the original envelope and, in particular, rear façade.”