A decision on demolition of a 1930s art deco office building has been delayed to allow councillors to visit the site.

Partick Housing Association want to demolish the old sawmill offices on Bearsden Road in Temple near the Forth and Clyde Canal and build two blocks of flats for rent.

The demolition plan has caused anger among many people locally with MSPs in the city also objecting to the plan.

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Glasgow City Council’s planning applications committee was asked to decide on the proposal today but decided to defer to allow more information to be gathered.

The committee decided to defer to allow a site visit with officials and for a hearing to take place where the applicant will be asked to present their cases.

The association said the condition of the building, which has been empty for almost 20 years, has deteriorated to an extent that it is not viable to repair or retain certain aspects of it, like the frontage.

Last week, the Glasgow Times reported on the proposal for the empty building, which was built in 1938 for Robinson Dunn’s mill, the Temple Saw Mills on Bearsden Road.

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It was briefly a bar and restaurant called the Canal but has lain empty since 2008.

A council report stated: “We are not aware of any maintenance taking place since that time.”

The applicant argued: “The building is incapable of repair” .

It stated there was: ”Damage to the brick walls including significant cracking and distortion on the south-west corner. No movement relief joints are present in the brickwork and the long-term lack of maintenance has left numerous cracks and bulges on the external walls, particularly on the southern and western elevations.”

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It is expected the site visit will take place sometime ion the next four weeks then a hearing arranged with the applicant.