Commercial property: New lease of life for former stations

Shepherd Chartered Surveyors is handling the marketing of all of these properties with a huge range of building types and locations under consideration.

Located on the west side of Dunlop Street, the 2,454sq ft former station in Linwood has now sold, at offers over £125,000, subject to securing the appropriate planning consent, to a local developer.

Fraser Smith, surveyor at Shepherd, says: “The closing date on this property followed the expression of strong levels of interest from developers for residential as well as other commercial uses.

Shepherd was appointed by the Scottish Police Authority to co- ordinate, manage and deliver the sale of the 30 police buildings throughout Scotland, most of which have been empty for some time.

Smith adds: “Linwood marks the 18th closing date to be set for these properties, with both Finnieston and Uddingston Police Stations both under offer and progressing towards conclusion.”

The deal on the Uddingston building in South Lanarkshire, which was priced at offers over £110,000, will complete next month, while Finnieston, the largest of the properties and priced at offers over £800,000, attracted more than 50 notes of interest and was sold last Autumn.

A key site in Glasgow city centre, the building is likely to be demolished to make way for development.

At the other end of the scale, Shepherd marketed the former police station at Symbister on the Shetland island of Whalsay. The purpose-built small timber building was priced at £25,000 but is about to go under offer after a successful bid.

Linda Cameron, of Shepherd’s Inverness office, says the property has most likely been purchased by a private buyer looking to convert it into a residential home.

Between the two extremes in size and price, many of the buildings lie in prime locations and, having been adapted for use from a residential buildings originally, will easily be converted back into homes.

For example, in Kemnay, near Inverurie in Aberdeenshire, the village’s former police station is a traditional sandstone detached four-bedroomed house with its own garden.

It is still on the market, priced at offers over £250,000, and it would be straightforward to convert the property back into a three or four bedroomed house.

Police Scotland announced plans for a public consultation on the future of some of its buildings following a review of its entire estate in September 2017.

Some 53 properties located across the country were subsequently  earmarked for closure.

The instruction to market the properties follows a competitive tendering process via the Crown Commercial Service Estates Professional Services Framework, to which Shepherd was appointed.

This arrangement allows key stakeholders, such as central and local Government departments, health, education and the emergency services, to place orders with Shepherd for commercial property services throughout Scotland.