Work to transform a former hotel in Perthshire into 14 flats has commenced.

The £1.9m project for High Street in Crieff town will see the properties available for affordable rent when completed. The project is the first to be undertaken in the area by Kingdom Housing Association.

The former Crown Hotel on Crieff's East High Street closed its doors 17 years ago and has lain derelict ever since. Over time, the structure has deteriorated and become unsafe. Under the new proposals, the hotel will be demolished and replaced with a mix of one- and two-bedroom flats. The homes will be energy efficient, and car parking facilities are also included in the plans.

Demolition work is due to begin on site this week.

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Campion Homes will build the new flats, which have been designed by Sinclair Watt Architects. On completion, the properties will remain under the ownership of Kingdom HA, but will be maintained and managed by Fairfield Housing Co-operative.

Charles Milne, Chair of Kingdom Housing Association, commented: "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."

(JP/MH)