INVESTORS are being offered the chance to cash in on plans to turn one of the region’s most important historic buildings into luxury retirement lodgings, The Northern Echo has learnt.

Grade II* listed Windlestone Hall is being advertised by London-based property investment company One Touch which hopes speculators will invest a minimum of £105,000 in order to benefit from any potential profits as a result of the venture.

To date no application has been submitted to convert the derelict hall, with local authority planning approval likely to prove a significant hurdle for the plans before they come to fruition.

Last year The Echo revealed the perilous state of the property, which is on Historic England’s ‘At Risk’ register, and how it had become a target for thieves and vandals before being secured and made watertight.

Windlestone, near Rushyford, County Durham, was repossessed by Barclays Bank after owner William Davenport, who bought it from Durham County Council in November 2011 for £241,000, was jailed for mortgage fraud.

After being put up for sale by Reeds Rains on behalf of Barclays it was sold in December last year along with the surrounding grounds, which were separately marketed by commercial property agents GVA.

One Touch, which says it has luxury retirement investments in numerous locations all over the country, states in its literature that the hall will undergo “sympathetic refurbishment” to create 45 spacious en-suite apartments, while a further 40 could be built on adjacent land.

Investors can buy individual apartments, which will then be leased back by an established care home operator.

Last night a former bidder for Windlestone, once the family home of former Conservative Prime Minister Sir Anthony Eden, said he had offered £700,000 for both hall and land, but had been beaten by a higher offer.

Mark Green, who is behind plans to create eight barn conversions in the village of Old Eldon, near Bishop Auckland, said: “They [One Touch] just came out of the blue and offered more money than what I was offering.

“It is a brave company what goes and puts on the internet 45 apartments and a further 40 to follow and then starts putting them up for sale.

“They are obviously going to planners saying this is what the public wants. I don’t know what the interest will be, but they must think there is a market out there.

“They are well on and banging away with architects and surveyors and all that.”

Historic England confirmed it had held initial talks with the new owners.

A statement said: “Our primary concern was the condition of the building, so we gave specialist advice on the way in which damp in the property should be tackled and followed that up by detailed recording work on the hall’s most ornate plaster work and details.

“We have been involved in initial, broad discussions about the owner’s plans for the building, but are awaiting firmer details before we can comment in writing with a specific view.

“We are keen to see this building fully repaired and brought back into use and expect further discussions with various parties involved over the coming months, which will be led by Durham County Council in liaison with the owner.”

A spokeswoman for Durham County Council confirmed there were no live applications for the site at present.

She said: “Regards the state of the building, we are having positive discussions with the owner about the need for work to be carried out to secure and preserve the fabric.”

A reporter contacted One Touch to request more information about its plans and was told someone would call back, but no further response was received.