Teenage boys charged with fire-raising after historic building blaze

The former sanitorium was hit by fire late last Thursday

More than 60 firefighters spent 19 hours trying to bring the fire at the derelict Glen O’Dee hospital in Aberdeenshire under control.

The A-listed Edwardian building, built in 1900, was originally a sanatorium for patients with tuberculosis.

But the timber clad property was reduced to a burnt out shell after the fire, which started on Thursday night.

Police confirmed that two 13-year-old boys have been charged in connection with the incident.

They are to be reported to the Youth Justice Management Unit in relation to alleged fire raising.

Detective Sergeant George Nixon thanked the local community for assisting with the inquiry.

He added: “While no one was injured a significant amount of damage has been caused and the consequences could have been far greater.”

After being used to treat tuberculosis patients, the army took over the Banchory based facility during the Second World War.

But in the 1964 it came back into use as a sanatorium when there was a typhoid outbreak in Aberdeen.

It served as a convalescent hospital until it closed in 1998, when a new purpose built community hospital was erected on the same site.

The building later appeared on BBC2’s Restoration series, which investigated why old buildings featured should be saved and asked viewers to vote for a winner.

The Deeside landmark did not win overall but received a large level of support.

A total of 10 appliances from Aberdeen, Turriff, Buckie, Inverurie, Kintore, Aboyne, Banchory and Stonehaven were all sent to the blaze around 11.30pm on Thursday.

One height vehicle and three water carriers were also called to the scene.

There were no casualties and the new hospital building did not require to be evacuated.

However, some patients nearest the blaze were moved temporarily.

Crews were called back out to the property over the weekend after flames flared up again.