INVESTORS have been eyeing up Worcester's old St Mary's Convent School for "every possible use" - leading to speculation an exciting development is on the way.

Estate Agent Andrew Grant has told your Worcester News it has been inundated with "phenomenal interest" in the school after it was marketed at an asking price of £4 million.

As we revealed over the weekend, the 'sold' signs have now gone up at the Grade II listed building after a mystery buyer had an offer accepted.

The sale has lead to speculation it could become an iconic hotel or company headquarters.

The deal is being kept under wraps because it is currently in the hands of solicitors but Jonathan Mountford, who has handled the sale for Andrew Grant, said: "It's a beautiful building and the interest has been phenomenal.

"As you can imagine, we've had interest from every conceivable type of use, absolutely everything, and we've now selected the correct purchaser.

"The old bit of the site in particular, is superb. It's magnificent and every time I've shown people around there I think of the different possibilities for it.

"It's not like a four-bed detached home, you've got to walk people around it to appreciate it."

The 19th century site, in Mount Battenhall, closed down in the summer as Worcester's only all-girls schools.

A spokesman for Worcester City Council reiterated yesterday that "no discussions" have been held with investors about the building.

The site is established as an 'education use' by the council but that could be changed, subject to the planning committee's view.

It is not earmarked for residential use in the emerging South Worcestershire Development Plan (SWDP), which lists land for 28,370 homes by 2030, although that does not block a developer from trying to go down that route.

But it cannot be knocked down, meaning the forthcoming buyer will have to work within the present structure.

Councillor Robert Rowden, a former planning committee chairman and current member of it, said: "Obviously for anything other than a school a developer would have to get the use of the building changed (by the planning committee), and we'd have to consider both the conservation of the building and the setting of it before we'd approve or refuse anything.

"It has got a lot of potential - it could be a school, a company headquarters, possibly a hotel."