Yard owner Port of Ardersier Ltd in administration

The yard once employed 4,500 people

The owner of the former oil and gas industry fabrication yard at Ardersier has gone into administration.

Port of Ardersier Ltd was granted full consent from the Scottish government in August last year to bring the site back into use.

The company already had planning permission in principle from Highland Council to construct offshore wind farms at the site.

The work was expected to create up to 2,500 jobs.

'Extremely challenging'

The site at Whiteness Head, west of Nairn, is the former McDermott Yard which opened in the early 1970s for the fabrication and construction of offshore platforms for use in the North Sea gas and oil industry.

At its height, the yard employed about 4,500 people but it closed in 2001 as demand dropped.

Investment company KPMG has been appointed as the administrator.

Blair Nimmo, joint administrator and head of restructuring at KPMG in Scotland, said: "The directors spent several years exploring options to develop the site.

"However, the impact of the economic slowdown and the more recent decline in oil prices made the development or sale of the site extremely challenging and these factors ultimately led to the administration appointment.

"We are currently assessing the best options for disposal of the site."