A DISUSED office block which has lain empty for three years looks set to be transformed into 129 homes plus a health and fitness centre.

Plans have been lodged for the redevelopment of Windsor House, formerly The Atrium, in central Swindon.

The Princes Street building once housed the Nationwide Building Society head office.

Now it looks set to help meet the demand for high-quality, centrally-located residential accommodation in Swindon town centre.

The proposal is to turn the former offices into two-bedroom flats with a health and fitness centre being housed on the ground floor.

Plans show that a proportion of the flats are to be reserved in order to provide affordable housing for local people.

The one-and-a-half acre site will also have parking for 103 vehicles.

The development is likely to have an end value in excess of £2 million.

News of this latest proposal may bring an end to years of speculation about the site's future.

A previous proposal suggested turning it into a nightclub and leisure complex.

But this attracted opposition from local residents who feared that such plans would increase noise problems in the area caused by late-night town centre revellers.

Local borough councillor Anne Baxter has welcomed the new plan.

She said: "I don't think anybody will raise any objections to this.

"I'm sure local residents will prefer it to some sort of all-night bar."

Estate agent John Harding, from Charles Harding in Swindon, said: "There has been quite a lot of planning permission going through recently for these sorts of conversions.

" It's quite a new concept for Swindon but whether the market will get to saturation point remains to be seen."

London-based developer Marchday Group plc is behind the project.

It has yet to go before the Borough Council planning committee. No-one from the company was available for comment.