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The decision comes almost three years after the initial plans were submitted by Premier Burrell, a joint venture between The Premier Property Group and The Burrell Company, to purchase the 120 year old church from Scotland's second largest care charity, Quarriers, who were struggling with the upkeep of the building.

Under the agreement, 12 luxury apartments will be created within the highly impressive B-listed Gothic style church, which was built by William Quarrier, whilst retaining many of the building's stunning original features, including the beautiful stained glass windows and dramatic clock tower. In addition, Quarriers will use the proceeds from the sale of the church to build an alternative place of worship and new community facilities for the area.

Over the past five years, Quarriers, which stopped running children's homes in the 1970s as care requirements in Scotland changed and today cares for some of the country's most vulnerable people, including disabled children and families, young homeless people and people with epilepsy, has been faced with the challenge of maintaining Mount Zion Church with a congregation of just 25 people.

Andrew Burrell, Managing Director of The Burrell Company, who has 20 years' experience in the regeneration of important listed buildings, commented: "This has been long and arduous process and we are just delighted that a decision has finally been made which will allow us to proceed with our plans to breathe new life into the Church.

"Mount Zion Church has many fine architectural features and strong historic origins. During its restoration and development, we intend to preserve the exterior of the building whilst using our skills and expertise to transform the inside into modern, attractive residential properties."

Phil Robinson, Chief Executive of Quarriers, said: "I am pleased that the appeal has been successful because this plan offers the only viable hope of seeing an important building preserved for posterity."

Richard Lyall of Premier Property Group added: "Whilst eager to start work on Mount Zion Church, we are also looking forward to working closely with Quarriers to develop new facilities which will benefit the local community."

Premier Burrell's plans for Mount Zion Church, prepared by RMJM, architects for the Scottish Parliament, retain as much as the original design of the building as possible. The plans, which would see the exterior remain largely as it is with the interior layout making the most of the existing fabric, has been commended by Historic Scotland as sympathetic to the preservation of the landmark building.

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