THE architects behind a £3.2 million protective ‘box’ around one of Scotland’s most distinctive historic houses have been brought in to work on the latest attempt to revive the former St Peter’s Seminary in Cardross.

Carmody Groarke has been appointed to work with the Kilmahew Educational Trust and landscape architect Dan Pearson Studio on its plan to breathe new life into the derelict building in Cardross, according to trade news site The Architects’ Journal.

The Trust took on the former seminary, which is said to be one of the best examples of ‘Brutalist’ design in Britain, from the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Glasgow in July.

Carmody Groarke was responsible for the design of the ‘Box’ around the Hill House in Helensburgh, which opened in June 2019.

Completed in 1966, St Peter’s closed as a seminary in 1980 and has lain increasingly derelict ever since as attempted restoration projects have failed to reach a successful conclusion.

Most recently, arts charity NVA decided in 2017 not to proceed with its plans for the building.

The Scottish Government declined a request from the Archdiocese last year to take the site into the care of the state, leaving ‘curated decay’ as the only likely option – until the Trust came forward.

When the handover of St Peter’s was announced, Stuart Cotton from the Kilmahew Educational Trust said the organisation wanted to “develop a viable vision” for the site “with education at its core”.

The ‘Box’ at the Hill House, consisting of an aluminium frame and roof with a chain-mail mesh around the sides, is aimed at protecting the building from the rain and salty seaside air which have eaten away at the property’s outside walls for virtually the whole of its life.