BBC Scotland's home is to be turned into luxury homes and a hotel

The corporation has chosen its preferred developers for the listed buildings on Queen Margaret Drive in Glasgow's west.

The 5.3 acre site has been home to BBC Scotland since 1936.

The majority of the site is earmarked for a new residential development while the listed buildings will undergo sensitive conversion to a hotel.

The BBC chose the developers from 18 contenders who submitted detailed offer proposals for the site in December last year.

Our move to Pacific Quay offers us a unique opportunity to provide a world-class broadcasting centre for Scotland accessible to the public Ken MacQuarrie BBC Scotland controller

Ken MacQuarrie, BBC Scotland controller, said: "I am delighted that the developers have been selected for our premises at Queen Margaret Drive which has served us so well over the years.

"Our move to Pacific Quay offers us a unique opportunity to provide a world-class broadcasting centre for Scotland accessible to the public and we are naturally pleased about that, but we are also aware of the legacy we will be leaving behind."

The BBC has appointed Applecross Properties Limited (Applecross), and their joint venture partners Esk Properties Limited (Esk) and Blackrock International Land plc (Blackrock), as the preferred purchasers to develop the site.

Superb opportunity

John Hill, director of development at Lambert Smith Hampton - which is advising the BBC on the disposal of the propert - said: "This is a unique residential opportunity within Glasgow's west end, where opportunities of this size and potential almost never come to the fore."

Colin Cumberland, managing director of Applecross, added: "Queen Margaret Drive is a superb opportunity for Applecross to develop a landmark residential site of which Glasgow can be truly proud."

The BBC will be involved throughout the planning and extensive consultation process.

The current Broadcasting House complex is located within the heart of Glasgow's west end and set within an established residential district near the Botanic Gardens.

Two distinctly individual buildings, by two of Glasgow's greatest architects, currently form the centrepiece of BBC Scotland's operation.

Rennie Mackintosh

The earliest is North Park House, built in 1869 to the design of JT Rochead as a country mansion and private gallery for the brothers John and Matthew Bell who owned the Glasgow Pottery at Port Dundas.

In 1884 the house was acquired by Queen Margaret College, the first college for women in Scotland.

In 1895, the college began building Britain's first women's medical school on the site, designed by architects Honeyman and Keppie, and an associate, Charles Rennie Mackintosh.