Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Demolition job out for tender ahead of new housing scheme

Councillors will meet again to agree leadership positions on Wednesday.
Councillors will meet again to agree leadership positions on Wednesday.

The contract to demolish a former Moray health centre to make way for council housing has been put out to tender.

The 41-year-old surgery on Strathcona Road, Forres, will be levelled to make way for 12 one-bedroom flats with parking.

Moray Council confirmed the purchase of the building from NHS Grampian at the beginning of June.

The site was acquired with the help of Scottish Government funds, and, as part of the terms of sale, the local authority had to demolish the building within nine months.

Interested candidates have until July 31 to submit a tender.

Following this deadline, the demolition contract is expected to be awarded by August 17.

Forres councillor George Alexander said he was glad work was progressing on a project which has been in the pipeline since early 2014.

He said: “This has to be good news for Forres. I’m glad the contract is now up for tender, and I look forward to it being awarded. The sooner they get on with it the better because this has been ongoing for a year.”

With a planning application currently being drawn up, the local authority hopes to begin construction before the end of the year.

Chairman of the council’s communities committee, Eric McGillivray, said the development was the latest project in a region-wide commitment to construct 500 new homes over the next 10 years.

The former health centre in Forres was built in 1974, but by 2011 local doctors said it was no longer fit for purpose.

That year the Scottish Government launched plans to create a new surgery in the town, and in September 2014, the £5.5million Forres health centre opened its doors to patients.

Recent figures revealed that about 3,000 people in Moray were waiting for a council house, with an average of eight applicants for every home that becomes available.