Dundee property developer Michael Johnston has unveiled £8 million plans to build an iconic block of flats to commemorate the eight men who died in the Broughty Ferry lifeboat disaster.
Broughty Ferry Community Council is looking at plans to remember those who lost their lives in the tragedy of December 8 1959.
Mr Johnston is finalising plans for “high-end” eight-storey apartments called Mona Mews to be built on an empty plot of land on Brook Street.
Each floor will be named after one of the eight men who died when the Mona lifeboat capsized on that fateful day. It will contain 23 flats ranging from 200 to 400 sqm each.
The building will even feature an enormous mural depicting the Mona battling through stormy conditions on the Tay, surrounded by the lifeboat volunteer phrase “you have to go out, but you don’t have to come back”.
Michael recalled when he was a paper boy in Dens Road regularly speaking to Mona coxswain Ronald Grant.
“We would chat regularly and he would always give me a tip of a thruppence or something,” he said.
“I was only about 12 at the time and I only realised what he did when he was dead. It is he who triggered me wanting to do this.
“It would be a tremendous opportunity to bring people to Broughty Ferry and hopefully an identity to Broughty Ferry that it deserves.”
One of his ideas is to make two external circular lifts in the shape of lightships.
He reckons the building could be constructed in 18 months, meaning it may even be ready by the 60th anniversary of the disaster in 2019.