PLANS are set to be submitted to transform eyesore Tricorn House despite some delays to the project.

Developer Oxfordshire Estates expect to submit a planning application in early January to create around 60 flats for assisted living.

They had previously planned to submit the application by the end of October.

Dustin Dryden, director at Oxfordshire Estates, said they had 'struggled' with highways issues and ascertaining the owner of a strip of land near the concrete building.

But he said work to strip down the building at the Cainscross roundabout was due to be complete by the end of today (Wednesday, December 21).

An old lift shaft and asbestos has been removed.

Work to complete the transformation is estimated to take 18 months after the application is submitted.

Tricorn House was built in 1972 and used by the department of health and social security.

Since then it has fallen prey to vandalism and become notorious as one of Stroud’s worst eyesores.

Proposals had previously been made to turn the concrete building into an HQ for Ecotricity and into a nursing home but nothing came to fruition.

Stroud District Council granted permission to convert the building into a care home in 2010 but Cheltenham-based Summerfield Medical decided not to go ahead with the project.

District councillors Tom Williams and Rachel Curley (both Lab, Cainscross) have lent their support to the new plans.