Golf vision for former hospital

The Courier, 10 April 1998

A multi-million pound proposal to convert the former Craigtoun Hospital, on the outskirts of St Andrews, into a luxurious golf and country club was announced yesterday.

The £6 million project at the one-time Mount Melville mansion house - a Grade B listed building - will also involve the provision of resort accommodation, a health spa and associated facilities.

Details of the ambitious scheme were outlined yesterday by Jonathan Thornton, managing director of HSI Ltd, which manages the St Andrews Old Course Hotel and Spa, and the 18-hole Duke’s golf course.

Plans have been lodged with Fife Council for the programme at the former hospital which lies adjacent to Craigtoun Country Park and is only yards from the Duke’s Course - designed by five-times Open champion, Australian Peter Thomson.

Mr Thornton said the work would involve the demolition of an extension, constructed almost 30 years ago to accommodate maternity suites at the hospital unit. A new stone extension is planned to incorporate a leisure club and swimming pool, while other parts of the building will be converted to a gymnasium, treatment rooms and golf clinic facility.

The ground floor will provide a restaurant, bars and a reception area. A total of six accommodation units are envisaged for the upper floor, while two outbuildings are also scheduled for conversion to form four resort accommodation units.

A second phase at the site will include 36 golf resort seasonal units in a courtyard setting adjacent to the former mansion.

The developers intend to operate the leisure club on a membership basis.

The building was purchased by the Old Course Hotel, St Andrews, in December of 1992. The turn-of-the-century mansion was the home of the Younger family, owners of the well-known Scottish brewery.

At the same time, the hotel acquired 330 acres of farmland surrounding the country park to develop the 7271-yard inland golf course, the longest in Scotland off the professional tees.

It was the original intention of the developers that the building - which was a maternity hospital before being converted into a residential centre for elderly people - would become the clubhouse of the Duke’s Course. However, that idea was later shelved and planning consent was granted by the former North East Fife District Council for a new clubhouse facility, overlooking the first tee and the 18th green of the Duke’s Course.

£6 million Craigtoun golf resort planned

Craig Nisbet, The Citizen, 10 April 1998

Plans for a £6 million re-development of the former Craigtoun Hospital on the outskirts of St Andrews have been unveiled.

Proposals to convert the former Mount Melville mansion house into a luxury golf and country club, with health spa and resort accommodation, have been lodged with Fife Council.

Further proposals to develop 36 resort accommodation units, for seasonal use, in a courtyard layout adjacent to the mansion house have also been put forward as a second phase to the development.

Jonathan Thornton, managing director of HSI Ltd which manages the St Andrews Old Course Hotel and Spa and the Duke’s Course at Craigtoun, said this week that he was delighted that the new Craigtoun development was going ahead.

Saying that there had been some delay in the project he said that the plans now put forward had been concluded after extensive consultation with council planning officers and residents in and around Mount Melville.

The proposals for the 95-year-old mansion house include the demolition of the concrete extension that was built in the 1970s to accommodate maternity suites. A new stone extension is proposed for the east of the building to incorporate a leisure club with swimming pool. Other parts of the basement will be converted to a golf clinic, treatment rooms and gymnasium.

The developers are intending the private leisure club to be open to the public on a membership basis.

The ground floor will accommodate bars, restaurant and reception areas. A total of six accommodation units are planned for the upper floors of the mansion.

Architects preparing the plans have included many of the original features of the Paul Waterhouse designed mansion which was originally built for the Younger family. Around £34 million has already been spent on the mansion to make it wind and watertight.

Current plans also include the conversion of two outbuildings to form four resort accommodation units, and the demolition of the old boiler house to be replaced by a new building containing two accommodation units.

A further 36 golf resort units are included in the second phase of the development. They are proposed for ground lying to the east and north east of the mansion in a courtyard setting around the existing outbuildings and not included in the £6 million spend on phase one.

Mr Thornton added that he now hoped work could be started on phase one as soon as possible with the development progressed enough to have some of it ready for the Open Championship in 2000.