THE FORMER Council headquarters buildings in Thornbury could finally be sold as South Gloucestershire Council has appointed a property consultancy firm to market the building.

The council has appointed Alder King to try and find a buyer for Stokefield House, in Castle Street which they have put on to the market with a guide price of about £3million.

The three storey, 45,000 sq ft building was built in 1986 and was used by the council as offices until it relocated its headquarters in 2012.

Earlier this year, a scheme to convert the buildings in to a joint sixth form centre for Castle School and Marlwood School was scrapped after the school’s decided it was unsuitable for their needs.

It is being marketed as a ‘modern office building’ which ‘sits on a 2.56 acre landscaped site with 90 car parking spaces and a rear service area’.

Alder King is now offering the property on a freehold sale or leasehold basis and suggests that, as well as its primary function of offices, the property also lends itself to conversion to residential, education or care home use, subject to planning.

Simon Price, head of agency at Alder King, said: “There has been a resurgence of demand for offices in North Bristol over the past 12 months, resulting in a steady reduction in stock.

“The entry of Stokefield House onto the market now offers local occupiers a genuine option to consider.

“However the property is very versatile and in a desirable residential location and would therefore be attractive to occupiers from other sectors of the market.”

Thornbury resident, Charles Eardley-Wilmott , said that he would rather houses be built on the site of the headquarters rather than having more developments outside of the town’s development boundary.

“As long as the right type of housing is built there then I would be perfectly happy with it.

“The building is a white elephant and I don’t think it should have even been built there in the first place.

“If any homes built there were to be classy upmarket homes which have been properly landscaped with gardens and any tree preservation orders were kept in mind then I have no problem with it.

A spokesman for South Gloucestershire Council said: “Following the relocation of staff to Yate and Kingswood as part of our estate rationalisation, we have explored a range of possible uses for our Thornbury offices including discussing the potential for it to be used as a new sixth-form centre by Castle and Marlwood schools.

“As the schools have decided not to take these plans further, we are now pursuing alternative plans for the disposal of the buildings and have appointed Alder King to market the property.

Addressing the issue that the site could be used to build more homes on the site the Council spokesman added:

“Any proposals for a change of use would have to be considered through the council’s statutory planning procedures.”