A project to regenerate Kirkwall town centre is set to begin after receiving a funding boost from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF).

The scheme, which will cost £3.4m, will see Orkney Islands Council (OIC) transform the town centre. The HLF has now confirmed it will provide £1.6m towards the project.

The Kirkwall Townscape Heritage Initiative (THI) will commence this autumn, and run for five years until 2019. Under the scheme, grants will be made available within the Kirkwall Conservation Area for:

• historic repairs and reinstatement to private properties

• bringing vacant properties back into use for economic gain

• public realm improvements, or 'place making'

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• training and complementary initiatives.

The latest award is in addition to a grant of £1.2m from Historic Scotland under their Conservation Area Regeneration Scheme (CARS), while OIC is also contributing £600,000.

Welcoming the investment, Steven Heddle, Convener of OIC, said: "We're delighted to have all the funding components for the Kirkwall THI now firmly in place. I very much look forward to seeing the project follow on from the success of the Council's Stromness THI."

Miriam Frier, Kirkwall THI Project Manager, added: "Over the summer we'll be busy with the move and getting everything in place to open our doors for enquiries and start engaging with the public in the autumn."

Colin McLean, Head of Heritage Lottery Fund Scotland, said: "HLF is delighted to support Kirkwall in its ambitions to give the historic character of the town a new lease of life.

"The regeneration of town centres is an obvious way in which we as an organisation can make an important contribution to improving the economy of an area and the standard of living for the people resident there.

"Investing Lottery money to revitalise historic buildings will not only make Kirkwall a more attractive place to live, visit and invest in, it will also provide jobs and training opportunities for local people."

(JP/IT)