A Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) grant of £1.3 million has significantly boosted plans to open the City Observatory on Calton Hill to the public for the first time.
As first reported here in April, the Collective Gallery aspires to conserve the William Henry Playfair designed building (currently on the Buildings at Risk Register), and create new gallery, administrative and restaurant spaces within the walled Observatory compound.
Collective's vision is for:
… a new kind of City Observatory for Edinburgh, encouraging engagement, bringing together ideas of research and development with science, heritage and contemporary art, connecting with the locality through the acts of looking, thinking and producing in synergy with the historic culture of the City Observatory site. … The City Observatory will be a space in which practitioners, producers and publics can meet, think, debate, reflect upon the past and most importantly, take action.
The new plans were drawn up by the recently defunct architectural practice of Malcolm Fraser, and a planning application (Ref. 15/01828/FUL) was submitted in April.
The proposals have received a mixed response, with most people welcoming re-use of the site but several (including the Cockburn Association) voicing reservations about what they consider intrusive modification of the original's classic simplicity and 'delightful tranquility', loss of historic astronomical remains, and potentially excessive access by coach parties and service vehicles. The application has still to be determined.
In the meantime, HLF expresses no such doubts, and is 'delighted to support this transformation project, which will save a site of architectural heritage synonymous with Scottish scientific discovery,’ according to Lucy Casot, the body's Scottish head.
‘Thanks to players of the National Lottery, the Collective’s vision of fusing arts, culture and heritage to create a compelling visitor attraction is a step closer to fruition.’
HLF’s awards for Scotland, announced this morning, amount to over £7 million and aim to promote Heritage as a catalyst for regeneration and tourism.
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Bill Dunlop Good that there's a possibility of the building being brought back into (largely) public use, but not so good if the astronomical archaeology is not respected.
Keith Thompson Coffee shop!