THE SHOCK cost of repairing the station hotel has not phased a campaign group who insist the hotel can still be saved.

A final report outlined that the cost to repair the crumbled building would cost £9,995,312.

In the conclusive report published by Mott McDonald, the internal repair works of the South Block would carry the largest chunk of work needed with £2,443,151 required to salvage the section.

Where as the external Façade/roof repair works of the South Block would cost £1,163,936.

The judgement follows on from the initial structural report commissioned by South Ayrshire Council, which found up to 1,000 defects including collapsed walls, loose roof tiles and vermin.

Esther Clark has asked for calm as the cost of repairing the hotel could have been far worse.

The Save the Station Hotel campaigner told the Advertiser: “The £10 million is not a surprise. It’s been left lying for so long and that would really make it safe, but there would also need to be some redevelopment done to it which would cost a bit more.

“I thought it was going to be 16-18 million if you asked me for a guess. I am comfortable with this. I realised they haven’t included some of the adaptations that would required.

“Save the Station Hotel group estimate that a proposed new station would cost £20 million to build and the cost of demolishing the current building would come to £4 million.

“They’ll have to spend more money on a new station. What they will have to look at is, evaluate what you can get with that money with what you can get with a new station that will only last 25 years, this has lasted hundreds of years.”

The building which is owned by businessman Eng Huat Ung has been served two dangerous building notices by SAC with the latest coming in April last year.

The initial review published last month showed the full extent of the damage caused to the building.

Save the Station Hotel are hoping that an Edinburgh based group Scottish Historic Buildings Trust would seek to carry out a “feasibility and conservation review” with a full consultation with the public on how the building could be used.

In a previous report by Sinclair Williamson, a former National Trust of Scotland employee said: “We can’t change the past. We need to move forward from where we are now, but we should be creative, and find good new uses for this amazing building at the heart of our community, which many visitors see as they first arrive at the town centre.”