The east side of SRUC’s Auchincruive site in Ayrshire is going back on the market. The sale comes as part of the £35m revamp for the south and west of Scotland and a new campus at Barony, near Dumfries. SRUC previously offered the site for sale in 2017 but took it off the market last year to allow a “fresh look at options for the site”.

The John F Niven building occupied by SAC Consulting, the consultancy arm of the college, and the Disease Surveillance Centre at Auchincruive, are not for sale.

SRUC’s explored community ownership or transferring the land for public use with South Ayrshire Council and other organisations.

Due to technical challenges of the site, highlighted in an independent report, neither of the options were ultimately feasible.

Professor Wayne Powell, principal and chief executive of SRUC, said: “The site costs SRUC around £685,000 a year to maintain and, due to challenges around the site, it would require a significant investment to bring it up to modern standards.

"We have taken expert legal advice on the terms of the bequest from the Hannah family and all assets from the sale will be reinvested in educational activities in the south and west of Scotland.

"This proposal is therefore entirely in accordance with the historic origins of the original bequest of the estate from the Hannah family in the 1920s.”