THE OWNERS of the Gleneagles hotel are planning to build a playground for the super-rich that will include one of the world’s best spas and a village of holiday homes worth up to £5m each.

They want to cash in on the publicity generated by hosting this year’s G8 summit of world leaders and are ready to invest £100m on a 600-acre site alongside the Perthshire hotel.

Outline planning permission has already been granted for the development, which the owners want to rival resorts such as Evian in eastern France and the Victoria-Jungfrau in Interlaken, Switzerland.

It is hoped work on the land — which is owned by the Al Tajir family, the Saudi oil tycoons — can begin as early as next year.

It will take the Gleneagles hotel complex from 850 to 1,450 acres. The centrepiece will be a luxurious spa complex surrounded by properties ranging in price from £3m to £5m, aimed at the world’s wealthiest people.

Gleneagles West, as the new development is called, will also feature new nine and 18-hole golf course, a new hotel and a variety of time-share and rental accommodation.

Already an international draw for its golf, Gleneagles is hoping a world-class spa will provide the added luxury necessary to attract the world’s most discerning and pampered clientele.

“The way spas are developing and the way people see them and use them is very different these days,” said Peter Lederer, Gleneagles’s chief executive. “What takes it into a different league is the range of treatments you can offer. Instead of somebody just having a massage they go for the three or four-day spa holiday. You need world-class facilities if you are going to compete in that market.”

The aim was to create something that complemented the more traditional approach of the main Gleneagles Hotel, according to Lederer. “This will be very exciting for the future,” he said.

Facilities on offer at potential European rival resorts include Moroccan hammam steam rooms and open-air saltwater Jacuzzis.

Details of the financial deal between the Al Tajir family and Diageo, the drinks giant that owns Gleneagles have not been made public.

Already a golf course architect – his identity unknown -— has been appointed to design the new courses, and the finishing details are being added to the development’s masterplan.

It will be built in phases, with work starting next year and completion expected by 2014, when Gleneagles hosts the Ryder Cup.

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