The department of National Drug Control is in talks to set up a residential drug rehab centre for 40 patients at the empty Dockyard property known as The Cottage.

The building could finally be getting a tenant after laying empty for eight years after former Governor Thorold Masefield used it as a temporary base while Government House was being renovated.

However, NDC head Caron Assan said it could take another two years to convert the waterside property.

She said: "We are still in very preliminary talks at the moment over whether or not we can have that property for a co-ed facility for substance abuse — there would be residential treatment for men on one side and women on the other."

Currently the Government has a site for ten women in Pembroke and 15 men at Camp Spirit on Darrell's Island which only operates for nine months of the year.

However, there are also around 44 beds at the Salvation Army's Harbour Lights programme but drug workers have long said there is a need for more on the Island.

Ms Assan said The Cottage, a building also known as Captain's in Charge, could be ready by the summer of 2009 with 20 beds for women and 20 beds for men.