Cavendish House, a derelict former office block in Dudley that was set to be demolished and replaced with a supermarket complex, will now go under the hammer after the owners, Cavendish Quarter Properties Limited, called time on the project as "the supermarket world is not what it once was".

It is the latest twist in the long-running saga over the future of the derelict building which has been the subject of discussions for a number of years

Christopher McPherson, Abstract's development director, explained that "for various reasons" plans for the property, which was purchased in 2006 for around £2million, "never got under way".

He continued: "We have had a number of enquiries from people who have asked what we were doing it with it, who say they are potentially interested in refurbishing the building, so we though long and hard about this and in order to put an end to the matter, we have put the building up for auction.

"It's very disappointing for us, we had a fantastic scheme there and for a moment in time it was very exciting and workable but for whatever reason it didn't progress as quickly as needed, things have now changed and we are moving on."

The office block has been given a guide price of between £1.2 million and £1.5 million and is to be sold off through property consultants and auctioneers Allsop. The auction will be held in London on October 20.