A FIRE-DAMAGED building described by one Douglas councillor as the capital’s biggest eyesore looks to be set for demolition.
The building in Castle Drive, which was the gym of the Manx Amateur Boxing Club until it was forced to find a new home after a fire in TT Week 2009, is owned by an affiliate of the Sefton Group.
Sefton Group chief executive Brett Martin, who said he had spoken to the principal shareholder of the company, said: ‘Demolition is due to take place in the first week of March.’
The building has been on Douglas Council’s list of ‘dilapidated’ buildings since 2010.
Councillor David Ashford, chairman of the council’s public works committee, said the building ‘requires complete internal and external refurbishment or demolition’.
He said: ‘There were a couple of issues before the fire as well, but the fire was the main one which made it completely dilapidated.’
Mr Ashford said one of the issues was that the building’s ownership had changed a number of times since the fire. At present, the owner has been given until the end of March to carry out the work.
Mr Ashford said: ‘The committee has given its permission for a section 24 order (under the Building Control Act) which is a formal request for works to be done, which can be a precursor to legal action if necessary.’
The state of the building was raised at Douglas Council’s latest meeting, last week. A number of councillors, including council leader David Christian, called for the committee not to wait until the end of March to serve notice.
‘All we get is promises after promises,’ he said.
Doreen Kinrade (Athol) described the building as the ‘biggest eyesore in Douglas’, saying: ‘It’s been falling down for two years.’
She agreed the committee was not being ‘hard enough’ on the owner.
During the meeting, Mr Ashford said: ‘It’s in a dreadful state up there. It’s a fire-damaged building. You can certainly tell it is. Action needs to be taken before it falls down of its own accord, which it doesn’t look far from doing.’
After the meeting, he said council officers had been in touch with the owner, saying he was ‘hopeful’ the council would not need to take legal action.
Mr Ashford and Mr Martin declined to name the company which owns the building. Mr Martin said he had spoken to the main shareholder, who did not want to comment.