MOST people who demolish a luxury mansion they had just paid £4m for, it would seem like they had lost the plot.

But when the real estate it is on is located on the millionaire's row of Sandbanks the seemingly rash move to call in the bulldozers is perfectly normal.

The large five-bed house that had an indoor swimming pool with sauna and steam room, was only built in the mid-1980s.

But that wasn't enough to spare it from demolition after it was bought by property developers.

They gained planning permission to replace the mansion with three ultra-modern luxury homes on the 3.5 acre site that overlooks Sandbanks in Poole Harbour, Dorset.

And after ploughing about £5m into the grand project, the hat-trick of homes have now gone on the market - for a combined value of £16m.

If all three sell for the asking prices the move would represent a healthy profit of about £6m.

The contemporary properties are being sold with local estate agents Tailor Made.

Adrian Dunford, from Tailor Made, said: "The house that was there before was about 30 years old.

"It was a huge property with an indoor pool and garaging set in 3.5 acres.

"It was a superhome for its day.

"But the styles have changed considerably in that time.

"The general layout of the old property was no longer relevant today.

"People expect to have one big room they can cook in, eat in and live in during the day and have a separate comfortable lounge for the evening.

"Today all bedrooms need to be en suite and the master suite ideally needs to have his and her dressing rooms.

"It was a house that needed renovating and modern technology needed to go in it. There wasn't even any underfloor heating in it.

"All the things that are required today for that kind of house and if you buy property in this area for £3m or £4m, that is what you would expect to find.

"Nobody really wanted to do the work.

"To make those changes you may as well knock it down and start again.

"We are finding that people at the top end of the market are moving to the area and they don't want to do the work themselves.

"They want a turn-key property which is what these three homes are."

The trio of new homes are called Oseleta, Optima and Ortega.

Two of them are spread over three floors and they all have floor-to-ceiling glass to make the most of the views of the grounds and sea.

They all have large open-plan kitchen and living areas, four en suite bedrooms.

Two have indoor swimming pools and gym facilities.

Over the last two decades Sandbanks has become a millionaire's playground with dozens of luxury harbour-front homes worth as much as £12m springing up.