A MAJOR scheme to develop a disused building at the former Wells House school, Malvern Wells, has been submitted to Malvern Hills District Council.

The applicant is AMDC (Property Holdings) Ltd, which already has permission to convert the main part of Wells House into 18 flats.

The Cheltenham-based company is now seeking consent to change the school's old gymnasium - across the road from the main block - into four, four-bedroom houses. It will involve a drastic remodelling of the existing building, including the addition of a pitched roof.

The houses will have four floors, including a lower ground floor and an "attic" floor under the pitched roof.

Alister Gower, of AMDC, said the company wanted to transform the gym and sell it off, to raise funds for the conversion of the main building. Earlier this year, Amdc admitted it was having difficulty finding the £2.75 million needed.

Mr Gower said: "We've worked closely with the planning and conservation officers to produce a suitable design."

The site is within the Malvern Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and next to the Wells Conservation Area.

Wells House itself was built as a coaching inn in 1748 and became a prep school in 1870. It closed in 1991.

A subsequent plan to convert it into an international choir school came to nothing, as did plans for a residential adult education centre and a sports/social club. The site has become derelict.