A long silent building site in the heart of Douglas has sprung back into life.

Formerly the site of KFC and Griddles, the steel skeleton, dubbed the ‘Big Grid’, has been frozen in time for much of the last two years.

But it now appears as if work has re-started at the site, with construction workers seen on the ‘Big Grid’ last week. New netting has also apparently been added to the underside of one of the lower floors.

Permission was given in December 2019 to demolish 42 to 50 Duke Street and further permission was granted in August 2021 to replace it with a six-floor building featuring shops and flats.

Last year DEFA Minister Clare Barber said that as work had begun on the site, it had an ‘unlimited time for the works to be completed’.