The future of a disused A-listed seminary in Cardross is at risk after the Scottish Government declined a request from the Catholic Church for the building to be taken into state care.
A report from Historic Environment Scotland into St Peter's Seminary - commissioned by government ministers – estimated that the challenges of maintaining the building and making it safe for public access could cost more than £13 million over 20 years.
The Cabinet Secretary for Culture Fiona Hyslop has written to the Archdiocese of Glasgow, offering to arrange a roundtable with any interested parties to discuss the report and any alternative solutions available.
Ms Hyslop said: "The Scottish Government has no choice but to accept the recommendations from Historic Environment Scotland not to take St Peters Seminary into state care, due to the risk and cost to the public purse it would entail to the detriment of other properties in care.
"We accept the report’s analysis that the only reasonable way forward for this site would be ‘curated decay’ and I plan to convene a meeting with all key partners to see if there is a way forward collectively to deliver what looks to be the only viable option for St Peters."
St Peter's is an internationally renowned building commissioned in 1958 by the Archbishop of Glasgow. After opening in 1966, it received the RIBA Architecture award in 1967.
After only 14 years in use, the building was closed as a seminary in 1980, and has been continuously vandalised and reduced to a ruin.
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