Berkeley Homes is working up plans to transform a vacant City of London office block into a housing scheme.
The residential developer is in talks to buy the 84,000 sq ft Roman House on Wood Street, EC2, from receiver KPMG for around £15m.
KPMG was appointed receiver to the 1950s office block, close to the high-density residential Barbican Estate, on behalf of Irish investor Orion Fund last summer.
The property, which Orion bought for £29.8m in August 2007, does not have planning consent for conversion to residential although permission was granted last year to extend the nine-storey building by around 10,000 sq ft.
Roman House, which is held on a long leasehold from the City Parochial Foundation, has been vacant since December 2007.
KPMG and Berkeley Homes are both unrepresented.