A historic tenement in the centre of Musselburgh could be transformed into eight flats.

The three-storey building was formerly used as a boarding house by Loretto School.

It is also hoped to build two houses, with separate access, at the back of the property at 1-3 High Street.

Certain planning consents had already been granted and work started on the site but this was halted by former owner Loretto School, which has now sold the property to Capital Developments (Edinburgh), based on Bridge Street, Musselburgh, which has lodged the planning application.

Planning approval is being sought from East Lothian Council for the subdivision/conversion of three existing flats and conversion of the remainder of the boarding house building to create eight flats and two houses.

A design statement, submitted to the council’s planning department, said the building, next to the school grounds, was used as three staff flats, student study bedrooms and a school shop.

The accommodation is within the Grade B-listed Eleanora Almond house, a 1760 three-storey tenement with a 19th-century two storey extension to the north.

A freestanding 18th-century doocot was converted to a bothy residence. Two pends originally connected the street with the rear courtyard and, in the 19th century, the westmost pend was infilled to provide a larger ground floor flat. The remaining pend gave access to the rear courtyard and houses.

It is hoped to refurbish the existing tenement, reinstating the broadly original layout, forming eight flats, two at each level, the design statement explained.

The project will include restoring the fireplaces internally and refurbishing the original sash windows.

The rear extension – currently two flats – will be separated from the tenement and the internal staircase reinstated, along with a new front door, to form a single residence.

The adjacent two-storey bothy (the former doocot) will be extended with the rebuilding of a flat roofed extension with a pitched roof design, to give a storey and a half, with an additional single-storey extension to the north.

The existing gateway to the Loretto grounds will be replaced with a wooden gate permanently locked.

The garden areas will have bird boxes and planting to encourage and maintain wildlife.