FOUR years after work stopped on what has been described locally as the ‘Kernick Carbuncle’, an empty purple block containing 528 students flats in Penryn could be dismantled.

The building has never been used, has attracted anti-social behaviour and is falling apart.

The developer of the Studytel building on Kernick Industrial Estate has revealed that there could be much-anticipated movement on completing the works, eight years after Cornwall Council granted planning permission for the apartment block.

A spokesperson said the developer is “currently progressing the necessary surveys and planning work to ensure the safest and most appropriate way forward to complete the works. As part of that process, a range of options are being considered, which includes partial or full deconstruction.

“No final decision has been implemented on site and the priority is to minimise disruption locally and to keep stakeholders updated as matters progress.”

The spokesperson promised further details once the programme and approach are confirmed.

Cllr Dean Evans (Green Party, Penryn) said: “The latest I’ve been told is they are planning to dismantle it and rebuild. They are finalising plans and making sure they have got all the permissions in place.

“They’ve been on site recently and cleared all the spoiled material from the old football field at the back of the building and put a new fence up, which the developer says is evidence of their intention to proceed.

“We want to get it finished and used, and we want the football field back in community use too.”

Following a suspected arson attack at the site last September, Falmouth’s Labour MP Jayne Kirkham said: “Penryn Town Council and local residents have been tirelessly campaigning for action but very little has happened for three years.

“We need definitive action – to make the site safe, take it down or finish the build. I will be meeting with the building’s owner’s representative again and working with the councils to get the action local residents need and deserve.”

Permission was granted for the student accommodation block by Cornwall Council’s planning department in 2018. Isle of Man-based Sondica contracted Caledonian Modular Ltd to build the £40m project. However, the construction company went into administration and work stopped on the ‘purple cube’ in March 2022.

A Sondica spokesperson said the huge block’s entire frame will now have to be replaced due to new changes in building regulations.

Following last year’s fire, neighbouring resident James Clewett told us the football pitch “was only rented as a depot for six months - that was five years ago … My neighbours and I are desperate. Living next door to an increasingly derelict mess, that is attracting the worst kind of human behaviour, is becoming a genuine burden that we’re all carrying.”

Residents of Penryn’s Trevance estate, which looks on to the back of the building, told us high winds brought insulation and purple cladding flying into their gardens, prompting one neighbour to say: “We all believe it should come down, as it’s basically falling apart.”