A former care facility that was the Ayrshire home of veterans’ charity Combat Stress will become a luxury property- with a hotel and spa.
And the associated buildings at Hollybush House will be turned into hotel/guest accommodation, under fresh plans.
Ayrshire Live can also reveal that the hotel side of the business will host visitors to the region as part of a wellness retreat offering.
The proposals were contained within a planning application to East Ayrshire Council, seeking a change of use at the estate.
Those proposals have now been approved by council planners.
In her planning application, the applicant, Ms I Carnegie, said: “The estate comprises a mansion house and ancillary buildings including accommodation annex, activity centre and two cottages.
“The property was previously used as a care home but has been vacant for a few years now. The request is for the following: 1- Amend mansion house within estate to Class 9 (houses) 2- Amend the accommodation annex, activity centre and two cottages as a Hotel/Guest House with spa (Class 7).”
In a supporting statement the applicant said: “The planning permission change is for change of use only.
“There will be no changes to the listed building at all, externally or internally. The only works will be cosmetic decoration inside such as painting, wallpapering etc. The building has been empty for a number of years and we would like to bring it back to life.
“In interests of transparency, although planning is being requested for Class 9 (house) the intention is that this would be a luxury property for short term letting in future and an application for this will be made.
“The ancillary buildings will be a Hotel/Guest house (unlicensed) with the two cottages on the location plan being guest suites as well as the 14 basic bedrooms in the accommodation annex. There will be no restaurant or bar open to the public and the hotel will host residents exclusively as a wellness retreat.”
In July 2021 we told how Combat Stress announced their intention to move away from Hollybush House, ending an association with Ayrshire stretching back 35 years.
At the time they said the facility was ‘no longer suitable’ for them to deliver modern services.
They also cited ‘limited access to public transport’ to Hollybush House and ‘extensive repairs’ to the building as factors in the decision to pack up and relocate to Edinburgh.
In March 2023, the property was placed on the market with offers of more than £750,000 being invited.
In approving the application, council papers said: “The proposal seeks to re-use an existing property which will help to ensure the long term use and upkeep of this Category B listed building.
“There are no significantly detrimental issues of amenity associated with the proposal, noting the wooded extents of the estate and the sporadically located residential properties on the outskirts.
“The proposal meets, on the whole, with the tourism policies of the Development Plan and should have positive economic impacts associated with it, in terms of use of some local facilities such as the Hollybush Inn or shops nearby in Dalrymple, as well as potential for using local companies for cleaning and servicing the accommodation.”