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This is St Peter's Seminary, about an hour west
of Glasgow in Scotland.

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Or rather, it was.

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It was built in the 1960s to be a
training school for priests,

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and I think it's a beautiful
ruin of a building.

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But then, I like Modernist
architecture like this.

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In 1992, this was put on the list
of historic Scottish buildings

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in category A, which means that it's of
national or international importance.

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And architecturally, it is one of the most
important modern buildings in Scotland.

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But, by the time it was listed,
it had already been closed for years.

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The Catholic church had decided that
priests should train in towns and cities,

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not in remote places like this.

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And besides, times were changing.

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There weren't as many people who
wanted to be priests.

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No one was interested in buying the place,
and the church couldn't afford to keep

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an empty and extremely high-maintenance
building running for no purpose.

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One of the troubles with a unique
structure like this

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is that it's expensive and difficult
to keep repaired.

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So, a quarter of a century later,
what's left looks... rough.

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- The Archdiocese of Glasgow
has been responsible for it

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since the moment it opened.

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It was building which was very
difficult to reuse,

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because it had been custom built.

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No developer wanted a building
that had a huge, concrete chapel in it.

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We have a responsibility to try and
preserve the ruin, as best we can.

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It is now a ruin. It's covered in graffiti,
it's inaccessible, it's dangerous.

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We have, by statute, to try and
maintain some kind of security

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in that area, to insure it and so on.

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But after 40 years, we are
at our wits' end.

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In 40 years we have worked with
every imaginable idea.

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Developers have thought of
turning it into a community centre,

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or a hotel complex, and
everything in between.

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There were inherent weaknesses
in the building.

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Those who lived there have nightmarish
stories of water ingress, for example,

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of the fact that the wind would
blow so strongly through the windows,

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that curtains would be lifted to be
almost horizontal.

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So the building itself was not
an easy building to live in or work in,

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which made it even more difficult
to find an alternative use for it.

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- One arts organisation spent millions
on making it safer,

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removing asbestos and old fittings,
using it as a stage for light shows,

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hoping to turn it into an arts venue.

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But then they ran out of money.

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And besides, by design, this building's
in the middle of nowhere.

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There's a village a mile down the road,
but that's it.

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There are better places for arts venues.

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And there's no way in law to just
abandon a building like this.

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You can 'tjust decide that it doesn't
spark joy anymore

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and donate it to a charity shop.

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And if definitely can't be knocked down,

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because it's a really significant,
listed building.

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- So it's not just a listed building,
it's a grade A listed building.

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It's the highest form of listing possible,
and we are required to stick to

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all sorts of rules about not using
it for any alternative purpose,

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not amending it, trying to keep
the area around safe.

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Legally, we would give that building away,
with the estate, but whoever takes it on

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takes on responsibility for insurance,
for security, for upkeep and so on.

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So it's not so easy.
You literally can't give it away.

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There have been expressions of interest,
but when it comes down to it,

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it's a question of money, of finance.

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Because the building itself swallows
vast amounts of money,

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and even to maintain it
in its current ruined state,

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costs the Archdiocese
something like £60,000 a year.

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People have looked at the area around,
because it's on a beautiful estate.

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They have looked at perhaps
building houses there

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and using the profit from that.

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But that has been denied because there are
greenbelt issues which prevent that, too.

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And so there's something tragic about it,
there's something haunting about it.

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It's unrealistic to expect some
sort of deus ex machina.

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We remain open to working with anyone who
wants to come forward with plans, with ideas,

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but at the same time, realistically,
this is bigger than us.

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This is something for the state,
something for the nation.

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And most people would probably say,

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"what a mess".

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Those that understand buildings,
and that have an understanding of

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brutalist architecture, would see it
as an extraordinary treasure.

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That's the reality.

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It is both.

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- If this was centuries old,
rather than decades,

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it'd be a national treasure.

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The Scottish government would probably
pay to restore it.

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You could charge an admission fee.

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Parents would bring their kids
to picnic in the grounds.

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And the idea of spraying graffiti
on it would be abhorrent.

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But, apparently, it isn't.

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Despite the fact that this is a
one-of-a-kind historic religious building.

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This place has enormous historical
and cultural value

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but a negative financial value.

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And that, it turns out, is
a very difficult place to be in.