Plans to turn historic Kingswells House into offshore firm's HQ thrown out

Plans to turn the historic ‘seance mansion’ Kingswells House into an offshore engineering firm’s new HQ have been thrown out.

AS Mosley boss, Andrew Mosley, had applied to Aberdeen City Council seeking permission to transform the B-listed building into offices.

He wanted to refurbish the granite mansion and move his 16 employees to the new base near Kingswells, next to Ardene House vets and Prime Four Business Park.

READ MORE: Popular Aberdeen bar to close for six weeks in huge £400,000 summer 'glow-up'

READ MORE: Two men sentenced for County Lines drug operations in Aberdeen and West Midlands

The building was originally constructed in the 17th Century, but has been altered throughout the following centuries.

It was initially built for former two-time Aberdeen provost Alexander Jaffray III, who moved his family to the edge of town to escape the plague.

However, it is currently empty having most recently been used as a spiritual centre.

The site was most recently occupied by The Summerland Trust.

Spiritualists used a particular seance room inside to contact those on “the other side”.

However, the historic mansion went under the hammer four years ago with opening bids starting at just under £400,000.

Mr Mosely’s proposal was met with opposition from the local authority’s roads team who raised concerns over road safety.

Access to the site is found off the A944 dual carriageway, and the team were were worried that the key route into the city is frequently busy with traffic.

It is also a well-used path for walkers and cyclists.

They argued the current site access is “far below modern standards” and would not give enough visibility to those leaving or entering the site.

And, they believed that traffic crossing the carriageway to enter the site was “unsafe”.

The team said: “Cyclists in particular are likely to be using this commuter route at some speed, with very limited sight of vehicles that may be approaching the junction.

“In the event that cyclists travelling along the shared path encounter vehicles exiting the site, the lack of prior sight could easily result in collision.”

The engineer wanted to knock down the house’s garages, which he claimed were a “poor-quality addition” to the building.

In their place, Mr Mosely wanted to build a modern extension that would house an open plan office space.

But while planners said changing the former home into an office would be “acceptable”, they didn’t believe the extension was suitable for the historic site.

They said it was “questionable” how the modern extension related to the character and appearance of Kingswells House.

Council chiefs also claimed it would not meet Historic Environment Scotland’s guidance on altering listed buildings.

Taking all of these concerns into consideration, the application was untimately refused.