A DEVELOPER fears someone might get killed in a derelict Victorian landmark he owns in Hull.
Businessman Raj Kanadia spoke out after yet another fire at the former Blundell Street Board building in Strand Close, near the city centre.
The blaze, which started in rubbish dumped at the empty property, damaged several first-floor timbers in the listed building.
Mr Kanadia's facelift proposals are currently on hold because of a planning wrangle.
He wants to build 56 flats in the grounds before refurbishing the old school to create 19 more apartments and a community centre.
However, city councillors recently refused his application to vary his original planning permission for the development.
They want him to carry out all the work at the same time, effectively guaranteeing the future of the listed building, which is currently on the authority's at-risk register because of its crumbling condition.
Mr Kanadia said: "The only way it can work financially is for me to generate rental income from the new flats first and then use that money to fund the refurbishment work.
"Without that income, there is a £500,000 shortfall.
"As a building, the old school itself is not worth anything at all.
"I am hoping to attract some Lottery funding for the necessary refurbishment, but I need to match some of that with about £500,000 of my own money.
"Without any rental income, that's going to be impossible."
Mr Kanadia, who is based in the Isle of Man, said the latest in a series of fires at the property had left him more worried than ever.
"I have done my best to secure the building, but if people want to trespass, unfortunately, they will find a way to do so.
"It is a very dangerous place and I am worried someone is going to end up being killed in there."
He said the Hull and East Riding Hindu Cultural Association was still interested in using part of the building as a community centre and banqueting hall.
"The association has been very patient with me to see if I can move forward with something," he said.
"However, they can't wait for ever and I don't know where we go from here.
"The council officers were also very supportive and I believe they understood my position, but the committee voted against the application to vary the conditions.
"I wonder what they think I am supposed to do?"
Councillor Sean Chaytor, committee chairman, said his colleagues were concerned about ensuring the grade two listed building was improved and not simply left to deteriorate further once the new-build scheme had been completed.
"We are keen to see this old building being reused," he said.
"The original permission gave the developer every opportunity to get his scheme off the ground."
The building was last used as a student union centre and a school of architecture.
