A project to regenerate the historic centre of Brechin continues to make progress.

The City of Brechin Townscape Heritage Initiative (THI) is a £2.9m five year programme of heritage led regeneration funded by Angus Council, the Heritage Lottery Fund and Historic Scotland.

Working with the local community, it aims to repair and restore key vacant buildings on the High Street, enhancing the historic buildings and general environment of Brechin central conservation area while raising awareness and appreciation of the built heritage of the town.

A meeting of Angus Council's Infrastructure Services Committee on Tuesday 2 June heard that since its launch in 2008, the THI has made significant progress with a number of applications being made for grants to improve buildings in and around the High Street.

Already, one of the major elements of the project - the regeneration of the Town House Museum - is nearing completion with the restoration of the upper floor of the building to bring it into use as an exhibition space.

-- Advertisement --

A number of public closes in the town centre will be upgraded as part of the project, and grants are available to assist with building repairs, reinstate architectural features and bring vacant floor space back into use.

As part of the THI, the teaching of long-established building skills is to be revived in partnership with Angus College. The partnership will spearhead a survey of traditional building skills provision, skill gaps and demand for traditional skills training within Tayside.

The council has also indicated that it intends to seek funding from the government's Town Centre Regeneration Fund, to enable further work to develop vacant buildings and to acquire properties for future development in Brechin.

Welcoming the progress being made under the THI, Infrastructure Service Convener David May said: "The Brechin THI sits within the overall economic regeneration strategy and community planning policies for Brechin and the wider Angus community, which will jointly contribute to the regeneration of the city centre in particular and the rest of Brechin in general."

During the project the emphasis has been on community involvement, and a series of lectures being held at the THI office continue to be well received by the members of the public that have attended.

These free lectures have covered a wide range of topics and have been organised in conjunction with the Friends of the Townhouse Museum and the Brechin Civic Trust.

(GK/JM)