A DERELCIT hostel is a step closer to being torn to the ground to make way for new flats in Glasgow’s West End.

A planning application to demolish Burnbank House, near Great Western Road, and develop 46 flats in its place has now been submitted to Glasgow City Council for approval.

The accommodation, at 25 Burnbank Gardens which is next to St George’s Cross, has been lying empty for four years.

READ MORE: Affordable housing proposed for Burnbank House in Glasgow's West End​

It comes after Anderson Bell Christie Architects were commissioned in 2017 by Queens Cross Housing Association (QCHA) to develop a feasibility study for the site.

Following its completion, the housing association is proposing to deliver a social rented development in partnership with the Glasgow West Housing Association.

READ MORE: Plans to transform Glasgow city centre distillery into 182 modernised flats

Glasgow City Council, who owns the property and gardens, has agreed to dispose of the site to QCHA to develop flats which will be distributed evenly between residents at both housing associations.

Around 60 per cent of the capital funding for the project will come from the Scottish Government’s Affordable Housing Supply Programme, managed by the local authority.

Developers claim that the former hostel is detracting from the amenity of the surrounding conservation area where there is a high demand for social rented housing and a desire within the local community to see the hostel demolished and flats built in its place.

QCHA say that the design offers opportunities for social interaction and minimises isolation within a highly sustainable building with an attractive external environment.

The development will include 23 car parking spaces and easy access to the two main bus routes, which are a five-minute walk away, in and out of the city centre, as well as the two subway stations.

Burnbank Gardens was originally formed by Victorian townhouses, constructed to home the increasing number of middle classes moving to the West End of the city.The developer's plan was to reflect the historic street layout as depicted in a historic map from 1909 but it then became clear that redeveloping the original layout would not be possible. Instead, the new block of flats would draw from the character and features of the surrounding area.

Designs have now been submitted to the council’s planning department with a decision expected in due course.