The council will spend £688,484 getting the former Wessex House site in Gloucester ready for a development of 45 homes.

City councilors have agreed to forge ahead with the project and appoint a contractor to decontaminate the site.

Planning applications for the excavation of the site and wider development are also being worked on and will be submitted "in due course".

Wessex House is part of a raft of council-owned sites in the city centre that will be developed for housing. Last year it announced  five empty or derelict buildings would be transformed into almost 200 new homes in a bid to bring more residents into the heart of the city.

It was formerly the offices for Edmundson Electrical but stood empty for several years before being knocked down. The 0.6 acre site is surrounded by Gloucester railway station on three sides with a frontage onto Great Western Road.

Investigation and archaeological surveying works began in January 2025 to help officers explore how many homes could be built on the land.

In October the council secured a grant from the Brownfield Land Release Fund 3 (BLRF3) to pay for decontamination and archaeological investigations to prepare the land for development.

The £688,484 awarded was based on the development of a minimum of 45 new homes.

On Wednesday night the cabinet agreed to forge ahead with spending the money and enter into contracts for the work.

The report said: "The intended works are a prelude to, and the information obtained will be used to inform, a planning application for developing the site with high density residential apartments to provide homes for the city.

"The Council intend to appoint a principal contractor who will co-ordinate and be responsible for the archaeological excavation and recording, the geotechnical decontamination and complete demolition and removal of the old ground floor slab with associated footings.

"They will also be principal designer and provide all necessary site welfare facilities."