Plans for a new arts centre in a listed disused Perth primary school may have to be abandoned.
Perth Contemporary Arts Trust was drawing up a proposal to transform Caledonian Road Primary School into a contemporary centre with studios, exhibition and workshop spaces (link).
However, Perth and Kinross Council has placed a closing date for offers of October 26 on the building, leaving the trust with little time to gather funds to buy it.
The buildings have been mothballed since late 2009, when pupils were moved into the new Glenearn campus, and have been on the market for almost a year.
It is thought a housing association may have offered to buy the school, prompting the move towards a closing date.
A spokesman for the trust said: ”We learned last week they were going to a closing date, which I assume means there has now been an offer. The trust is going for another look on Friday and make a final decision.
”I suspect the council will just want to get whatever money they can but we’ve heard nothing from them since our initial meetings. There was a positive reaction from the council officers but they need the money now.
”If the council don’t get a suitable offer, they may come back but we’re definitely looking elsewhere and we have been working away on a parallel building.
”The old DWP building on Mill Street was another which could have been suitable, especially because it’s so close to the concert hall.
”That would have been a positive step, but again they’re looking for a quick sale on that one. St John’s Primary School will also be on the market soon because the children are moving from there, so that’s a possibility.”