Developers vie to buy former council office site

North Quay has been used as a car park since the building was demolished in 2024

Two sets of developers are in the running to buy and transform the site of a former council building, 10 years after it was first put on the market.

The former borough council's offices at North Quay in Weymouth, Dorset, were almost sold in 2016 but the deal fell through amid a planning row.

Council documents show Castletech Projects and a partnership between Our Place and DJ Property have submitted fresh proposals for mixed residential and commercial schemes.

Dorset Council cabinet members unanimously agreed to the disposal of the site, which is now a car park, through "a closed or selective tender process".

North Quay is part of the council's Weymouth 2040 regeneration programme focusing on four sites - the others being the former Weymouth Bowl site, Weymouth Peninsula and West Marina.

Council leader Nick Ireland told Tuesday's meeting: "Nothing has happened in Weymouth for a very long time, apart from the Olympics.

"We're going to make a difference and, by doing that, we are going to make a difference to the residents of Weymouth and the residents of surrounding areas."

North Quay was marketed in 2015 when Weymouth and Portland Borough Council prepared to relocate to Commercial Road.

But the sale, agreed in 2016, collapsed amid a row between developers and the borough council after it refused permission to convert the harbourside block into flats.

Dorset Council, which inherited the derelict building, applied to demolish it in 2019 but permission was refused.

It was eventually flattened in 2024, using Levelling Up funding, to help facilitate the new development.