Eight projects have been awarded a total of over than £1.6 million funding under the latest awards from the Historic Scotland Building Repairs Grants Scheme.
Historic Scotland writes:
A Glasgow cemetery which forms an important part of Scotland’s Jewish heritage, the City Observatory Complex in Edinburgh and an extremely rare locomotive turntable in Aberdeen are amongst the latest recipients of Historic Scotland’s Building Repairs Grants Scheme announced today (5th August).
More than £1.6 million has been awarded in total, which will be invested in 8 projects across the country to repair and restore historic buildings as well as helping to support an end use which is beneficial to the surrounding community.
Fiona Hyslop, the Cabinet Secretary for Culture, Europe and External Affairs announced the latest award recipients at Castle Mill Works, the former North British Rubber Company offices, in central Edinburgh, which itself has been awarded £500,000 as part of the scheme. The only surviving structure from what was at one point the city’s largest industrial site, occupying over 30 hectares and employing 3,000 people, Edinburgh Printmakers plan to restore the building to create a thriving visual arts centre and a hub for creative enterprises housing printmaking facilities, galleries and education resources.
Speaking from the site, Ms Hyslop, said: ‘This scheme helps to protect and promote, as well as transform and bring back into use, some of Scotland’s most historically and architecturally significant buildings. This magnificent former Victorian factory in Fountainbridge, is one of eight projects in total, throughout Scotland, to receive grant funding and aims to see this derelict building once again filled with purpose and a take on a new role as a creative arts hub. Across the country, historic buildings which played an important role in our past also have an important role to play in our future, with schemes such as these helping to tell a new chapter in the building and its surrounding community’s future.’
In October 2015 the new lead public body for Scotland’s historic environment, Historic Environment Scotland, brings together Historic Scotland and The Royal Commission on Ancient and Historical Monuments (RCAHMS’). The Chair, Jane Ryder said: ‘As we move towards the launch of this new organisation it’s fantastic to see the continuing commitment from the Scottish Government to invest in schemes which protect some of the most at risk buildings in the country. By doing so they are enabling people to play their part in protecting the heritage on their doorstep as well as contributing to the nation’s extraordinary built heritage.’
Chair of Edinburgh Printmakers, Alastair Snow, said of the rubber mill development: ‘We are delighted with this award from Historic Scotland and recognition of the heritage value of this building. This award is a significant boost to Edinburgh Printmakers’ fundraising efforts, which with public support via our new text donate appeal, means our vision to bring creativity and community back to Castle Mill Works is now well on the way to becoming a reality.’
The scheme welcomes applications three times a year, and is a competitive process which takes account of the wider benefits that a repair project may provide such as community engagement, promoting sustainable economic and rural development, reinforcing local identity and the development of traditional skills.
Applications are now being accepted for the next round of funding.
Recipients of the funding are as follows:
- Castle Mill Works, the Former North British Rubber Factory in Edinburgh (awarded £500,000) is the only remaining physical reminder of what was once a world renowned rubber mill which, for many years, was integral to the expansion of the city and the livelihood of many of its inhabitants. Edinburgh Printmakers, which is a visual arts charity specialising in fine art printmaking, is proposing to repair and restore the 19th century building to make an internationally recognised centre for excellence in printmaking, a hub for the wider arts and a community resource.
- Westmuir Street School in Glasgow (awarded £500,000) one of the finest examples of 19th century board schools in the city and a considerable local landmark. The building has been vacant for some time and is currently on the Buildings at Risk Register. However, the Glasgow Building Preservation Trust have devised a project to undertake repairs to the historic fabric of the building and turn it into a community enterprise centre, creating lots of new commercial space.
- St Andrews Harbour in St Andrews (awarded £22,600) is an exceptionally rare harbour of 17th century configuration, although the site has mediaeval origins. It was largely destroyed in 1655 and rebuilt the following year with stone from St Andrews Castle. The Harbour Trust intends to carry out a scheme of emergency repairs to ensure the harbour can continue to be used for fishing and recreational use.
- The Engine shed and associated turntable in Ferryhill, Aberdeen (£298,158). The steel girder locomotive turntable is one of only three surviving turntables in Scotland and is classified as a Category A listed structure, dating back to 1907. The associated engine shed is a Category A listed building which was built around 1852. Collectively they formed the core of the Aberdeen Ferryhill Locomotive Depot until its closure in 1987. The project aims to repair and restore the structures in order to create a self-sustaining heritage visitor attraction. This would include a small museum and workshop and, with the restoration of the timetable, it’s hoped that it could allow Aberdeen to once again become a popular destination for main-line steam charter trains such as the Flying Scotsman.
- Built in 1818, the complex of buildings which comprise the City Observatory on Edinburgh’s Calton Hill (awarded £233, 280) were designed by leading architect of the period, William Henry Playfair. This site and the buildings on it are synonymous with the Scottish Enlightenment of the 19th Century, with the Observatory used for scientific research and forming the basis of an accurate time service for Edinburgh and Leith. The Observatory is of huge architectural and historical significance, as well as an integral part of Edinburgh’s UNESCO World Heritage Site. The project aims to repair and restore the buildings, as well as creating a new subterranean art gallery and café/event space, which should allow public access to the site for the first time as well as providing the buildings with a sustainable future.
- The Fountains and Gatepiers in Alexandra Park, Glasgow (awarded £45,000) are an important reminder of Scotland’s rich industrial heritage. At the time that the fountains were built (1866-70) Scotland was a world leader in the production of cast iron items such as these. The project intends to restore the fountains and gates, as part of a wider regeneration of Alexandra Park.
- Glasgow’s Necropolis is undoubtedly one of the most important monuments of Victorian Glasgow, internationally significant as a spectacular example of a Garden cemetery, featuring memorial designs by many leading architects and sculptors of the time, including an early work by Charles Rennie Mackintosh. The Jewish Enclosure within the Necropolis (awarded £13,125) was acquired around 1832 and marked by a column based on Absalom’s Tomb in King’s Dale, Jerusalem. The enclosure was very quickly filled, due to the fact that Jewish Law forbids the burial of more than one person in a grave, and so no burials have taken place since the 1850s. The enclosure is therefore an integral piece of Jewish heritage in Scotland, and important for the architecture and history of the Necropolis. The project aims to repair and restore fifteen fallen headstones, a staircase and rubble wall, as well as installing a handrail and posts to increase accessibility. The works also include plans to install a viewing area and information boards outlining the history of the graveyard.
- The Stovehouse in Auchincruive, South Ayrshire (awarded £18,200) consists of a long range of greenhouses, within a walled garden. Some of the buildings within the site were designed by internationally renowned Scottish Architect Robert Adam. The site has been used as a Scottish Agricultural College since the 1920s and plans are now underway to continue with a repair scheme to the buildings which will allow a charity to expand on their work with army veterans through horticultural therapy workshops. The scheme by local charity Gardening Leave should provide a sustainable future for these 19th century glasshouses, as well as allow for better access for the general public when not in use by the veterans and better signage placed around the site for interpretation.
More information and eligibility criteria for HS grants can be found
