Scotland’s oldest working railway station could be on its way to a new life as a vibrant arts centre attracting artists from around the world to Dundee.
Broughty Ferry station has been unoccupied since its refurbishment in 2012 but owners ScotRail are determined to see it reborn.
They have accepted an application from the Broughty Ferry Traders’ Association whose wish is to see it converted into an artists’ residency centre.
They believe the plan could enable the community to play a lead role in the cultural revival being led by the V&A at Dundee project.
Now, students from Duncan of Jordanstone and architecture schools in Glasgow and Aberdeen have delivered a variety of exciting designs for the centre.
They were unveiled as community leaders and the young designers gathered to take the first steps towards taking the project from drawing board to reality.
The students had become involved through the Space for Practice project, which offered them the chance to act as ‘professionals’ and develop a real-life community-based project as part of this year’s Festival of Architecture.
They were partnered with the BFTA’s Jan McTaggart, who sees potential in the railway station building as a base for artists from all art forms to work with members of the community.
She hopes to see Broughty Ferry develop through investment in the arts, attracting visitors and creating “economic, cultural and social opportunities” – a model central to the V&A project.
Jan said: “This is Scotland’s oldest working railway station, and we now know it is going to welcome more services from 2018.
“ScotRail want to see it be a vibrant station and they want to see the station buildings brought back into use.
“Hopefully we can make that a reality. Working with the architecture students has been an absolute joy.”
She added: “As part of the project they also undertook research into attitudes of residents which showed that there’s already a massive amount of support for the concept.”
