A PIECE of Alloa’s history could be lost forever after plans to demolish Carsebridge House were submitted to Clackmannanshire Council.
The historic building, located just off Carsebridge Road, suffered extreme damage resulting from a huge fire.
The blaze tore through the building on Thursday, August 29, leaving just the four walls standing.
Now, plans submitted to the council’s planning department intend to have the building demolished due to health and safety concerns surrounding the damaged site.
The proposals have been put forward by AC Land Regeneration, which is an offshoot of Advance Construction who own the building.
An engineer report was filed by Dougal Baillie Associates, with the details of their findings published alongside the application.
READ MORE: Carsebridge House destroyed by overnight fire
Their inspection was carried out the day after, with their report making recommendations for demolition over safety concerns.
James Fraser, from Dougal Baillie Associates, said: “Due to the extent of the fire and the loss of lateral restraint to the remaining stone walls, as well as the thermal shock the masonry has experienced, we would strongly recommend that the building be demolished as the structural elements are unsalvageable, beyond economic repair, and the building is currently in a dangerous condition.”
The fire took five hours to extinguish and left the roof completely blown out as were some barriers covering the empty windows.
The blaze could be seen across Clackmannanshire and the remains were still smouldering more than 12 hours later.
Mr Fraser continued: “The roof of the building was present during the Historic Environment Scotland survey in 2021 but has now collapsed in its entirety.
“The damage to the building is most evident internally with the floor joists in the majority of the building fully collapsed, and the remainder to the southeastern bring partially collapsed and heavily charred.
“Water damage, presumably from the fire services extinguishing the fire, was also noted throughout the building.
“The external walls have evidence of smoke damage to their external face; however the internal faces show signs of stress fractures from the rapid heating and cooling caused by the fire and its extinguishing.
“The collapsed floor and roof structure no longer provide adequate lateral restraint to the external and remaining internal walls.
“The external walls are now fully exposed to the elements with the head of the wall and its internal faces no longer within a weathertight envelope.”
Clackmannanshire Council have yet to make a decision on the proposals.
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