That’s the not-so-sweet news from the sheds’ joint owners, the James Watt Dock LLP (Limited Liability Partnership).

It’s now six years since £3.7 million was spent making the structures wind and watertight in the hope of ambitious development, but plans were hit on the head by the recession.

The LLP, which is made up of regeneration body Riverside Inverclyde and Greenock Ocean Terminal owners Peel Ports, secured planning permission in 2011 for a business centre, cafe and bar along with two car parks, but that was also hit by the recession.

But RI chief executive Aubrey Fawcett and Peel’s property asset manager, Brian Lavalette, say they are continuing to market the sheds in the hope of development.

Mr Fawcett said: “RI and Peel got together in 2008 with the aim of opening up the site, and as part of that there was the new road and roundabout.

“The establishment of the marina has been very successful and is going from strength to strength, and we’ve looked at doing various things with the sugar sheds.” Mr Lavalette said the original ‘masterplan’ was for a range of commercial, leisure and retail uses, with some housing in the upper levels of sheds ‘a’ and ‘c’.

He said: “At the moment, we’re out in the market talking to people.

“We’re really just waiting to get the interest to allow us to push ahead and develop.

“We’re hoping to get some interest from the marina, which is really creating a buzz, so that we can generate some activity.

Mr Fawcett said the challenge with any historic building, and particularly the sheds, is that developers have to produce designs which fit within the existing structure and respect the architectural history.

He said: “We recognise that the sugar sheds will not be developed overnight. It’s going to take some time, but with our partners, Peel, we are looking at every opportunity to bring in interested parties to get things happening.

“The 2008 masterplan was to set a framework which you can use to help bring forward development. That type of scheme would have been over a 20-year period, but we had a major downturn in the market.

“However, we are quite encouraged that indications are that market conditions are starting to return.

“A number of sites within the sheds would have gone quite easily if we hadn’t had the downturn. A lot of people in the property market switched off because the returns weren’t there for them, but that’s starting to come back around again.

“But it will take some considerable time because the market is still recovering.” Mr Lavalette said they are out speaking to developers to see what kind of interest they can bring to the sheds.

He told the Telegraph: “This is one of the sites we’re pushing.

“It is definitely one of our more interesting pieces of real estate.

“The site has a lot of potential and opportunities, and we are positive about it.

“We do have some interest in the sheds, but it’s nothing that is going to happen very quickly.”