THE Easdale brothers have offered the NHS the former IBM blue building at Spango Valley in Greenock for use as a field hospital during the coronavirus crisis.

McGill’s Buses owners Sandy and James Easdale, pictured, and their development partners from Advance Construction, say they can turn the vacant 65,000sq ft capacity building at Spango Valley over to help ease pressure on Inverclyde Royal and other hospitals.

They say it could be ready quickly as it is in good condition and has canteen, toilet and office facilities in place, together with a network of utilities capable of supporting increased usage.

The Spango site was snapped up by the brothers for £1.5m back in 2018 and they have plans for a £100m mixed-use village there, including 450 homes.

They have applied for permission to demolish the building to pave the way for the development, but believe it could now play a vital role in helping to fight the COVID-19 outbreak.

The Easdale family has also offered the use of their commercial office block in Port Glasgow’s Scarlow Street, which was formerly used by the Department for Work and Pensions.

In a joint statement, Sandy and James Easdale said: “The NHS and the Scottish Government are looking at potential options for field hospitals in Scotland, similar to what is being facilitated at the Excel in London.

“We know there will be specific criteria required by the NHS but this is a vacant, large capacity building which is easily accessed in the west of Scotland.

“Contact has already been made with local politicians and Scottish Government regarding its availability and should it be required then we can make progress rapidly on its handover.

“The NHS staff and government are doing brilliant work to get us through this unprecedented crisis and we are willing to help them in any way we can.”

Seamus Shields, the joint owner of the site and owner of Advance Construction, said: “As a business we are navigating ourselves through these challenging times and can only imagine the pressures that the NHS and Scottish Government are under during this crisis.

“We are delighted to be able to assist in any way possible and my team are ready and willing to help prepare the site if required to enable access and infrastructure requirements of the NHS.”