The housing charity’s proposals for the site, built in the late 1890s, include converting the UK’s oldest car factory at Madelvic into 28 townhouses for mid-market rent*. The new homes, given the go-ahead at the council’s development management subcommittee yesterday, will be built within the façade of the old B-listed factory buildings.

Lar’s chief executive, Ann Leslie, said: “This is really good news and we will be converting an abandoned and derelict site into fabulous much needed new homes. The site has been a local eyesore for many years and has been a target for vandalism and anti-social behaviour. Our plans will now breathe new life into the area and allow local people to put down roots in their own community.”

Lar purchased Madelvic in November 2022 from the Scottish Government, and this is the latest regeneration project undertaken by the charity. 

It recently completed the repurposing of a derelict church in the Fountainbridge area of Edinburgh into four townhouses and is about to finish a complex regeneration of an abandoned paint factory in Ruchill, Glasgow, providing 43 homes. It previously converted a derelict office block in Gorgie into 47 flats and has also just started work converting the historic former naval barracks at Port Edgar into 49 new homes.

*A previous version of this article incorrectly stated the new homes would be for social rent.