A Perth company’s transformation of a derelict 19th Century Angus church into affordable housing has been hailed by Scotland’s housing minister.
On a visit to the Glengate Hall project in Kirriemuir, Margaret Burgess said the £650,000 scheme that will see the creation of nine flats for rent is a shining example of positive collaboration to bring an old building back into positive use.
Empty for many years and on Scotland’s Buildings at Risk register, the redevelopment is being carried out by a bespoke housebuilder, Perthshire-based P. J. Redford Homes Ltd, and has benefited from £225,000 of investment from the Scottish Government’s Empty Homes Loan Fund and a further £255,000 through the Kirriemuir Conservation Area Regeneration Scheme (CARS), involving Historic Scotland and Angus Council.
The first tenants are due to move into the new flats in the middle of next month and just two years after it came on the radar of the developer, company managing director Lorna Redford said it had been a “phenomenal” project, utilising local skills wherever possible.
The finished mix will be four one-bedroomed flats and five two-bedroomed properties, available at fixed rents for 10 years.
Key features of the old building, originally a church before being turned into a hall, have been retained, including historical plaques which grace the interior of the C-listed building.
The minister said: “This is a project everybody should be proud of. Town centre living is something people want to enjoy and this is a great example of it.”
She added: “The Empty Homes Loan Fund is one of a number of measures this government is taking to tackle the problem of empty homes in Scotland’s communities, and is part of our efforts to deliver at least 30,000 new homes over the lifetime of this parliament.
“We have listened to councils running the Empty Homes Loan Fund, and are considering changes to the conditions of the fund which will allow projects to offer empty homeowners a loan-to-sell option.
“This would allow the owner to be able to sell the property on the open market, post-refurbishment, with the condition that the property must be sold at an affordable level.”
Angus Council leader and Kirrie CARS scheme steering group member Councillor Iain Gaul said: “Without this partnership approach involving central and local government and the private sector, this building would have remained an empty shell.
“It’s a very big collaborative project providing badly-needed flats right in the heart of Kirrie.
“It brings the history to the modern day and through retaining features such as the old plaques, it means in years to come people can still appreciate what this building once was rather than just seeing it as a set of flats.”
The ministerial visit coincided with an open invitation to members of the community to view the project.
Photo by Angus Pictures