THE Unite union has revealed a new diversification - a move into the hotel business.

It has applied to demolish a property it has inherited in central Glasgow with the intention of redeveloping the site as a 16-storey hotel.

The entire cost of the demolition and rebuild is estimated at just over £2 million.

Unite's plans are to pull down the early 1960s-built Graphical House, the former home of the Graphical, Paper and Media Union, on Clyde Street, overlooking the river and just along from St Andrew's Catholic Cathedral.

The go-ahead for the scheme could be granted early next year. Unite would bring in a hotel firm to run the property.

At least one budget hotel operator has expressed an interest in the proposal, according to documentation lodged with Glasgow City Council by the team hired by Unite to get the scheme off the ground.

The property, formerly owned by Amicus, one of the unions which merged to form Unite, has not been used for offices since 2008. In 2010 its ground-floor tenant, Morrison's Bar, closed.

Commercial property firm GVA Grimley is advancing the plans for Unite. Its report to the council on the plans states: "Our client's advisors are in discussions with a number of interested parties on this proposed development.

"We have considered the requirements for a number of hotel developers in preparing this scheme and design."

A Unite spokesman said: "This is a property that was inherited through the merger with Amicus, which itself inherited the building from GPM.

"It is in a considerable state of disrepair and we will be consulting with our own advisors and Glasgow City Council going forward."