AN eyesore town centre building is set to be demolished in the coming weeks with regeneration plans for a conference centre, hotel and restaurant to replace it.

The former Larkhill Health Centre has been empty for several years as the NHS struggled to offload the building.

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But it was recently bought by brothers Sajed and Majed Hussain who say they plan to invest around £5million to transform the site.

Sajed said: “There’s a lot of activity on the site.

“The interior has been stripped out and contractors are currently working on safely extracting the asbestos from the framework.

“We’re expecting the building to start to be demolished within a few weeks.”

Since it was vacated the centre has become something of an eyesore as it is located alongside Blackburn’s town centre bypass and is on a prominent site overlooking the town.

Mr Hussain said the brothers would enter into talks with council planners about the regeneration of the Mount Pleasant site.

No planning application has yet been submitted but the brothers envisage up 50 jobs could be created.

Sajed, who runs Architectural Fibreglass Mouldings in Accrington, said: “The plans for the site are for a conference and training centre on the space where the old medical centre is now.

“After the site is cleared we will be talking to the council about adopting some of the land surrounding the site which would enable a larger development.

“We are thinking of a three or four star hotel with a restaurant. It is all subject to planning permission, though.”

The centre was sold by Allsop auction house last October for £510,000.

Larkhill Health Centre closed in 2011 when Blackburn’s £21m Barbara Castle Way Health Centre opened its doors.

When told of the plans, Cllr Suleman Khonat said: “It is always sad to see a public building go. But with the new health centre at Barbara Castle Way, I do not think we can complain.

“Since the building closed it has become an eyesore and suffered quite a bit of damage. It will be nice to see something done with it but we will have to wait and see about the plans.”

Mansour Geloo, director of the nearby Geloo Brothers pharmacy, said: “I am sure whatever they come up with is going to be an improvement.”