The National Lottery and Historic Environment Scotland have approved a £2.6 million funding package to help regenerate Penicuik town centre. The funding will support improvements to historic buildings and public spaces, along with a wide range of community activities and training opportunities for local people.

In a five-year project launching next month, Midlothian Council will work with local groups including Penicuik Community Development Trust and Penicuik First, to help reinvigorate the town centre. The council has already committed to investing £460,000 in street improvements in Penicuik High Street, with work expected to start on site in the autumn.

The initial works, which will include widening the pavement and reducing the width of the road, will focus on the junction of High Street, West Street and The Square.  The aim is to make the area safer for pedestrians while improving traffic flow, as well as making overall improvements to the town centre.

Austin-Smith:Lord, in collaboration with Douglas Wheeler Associates, were appointed to assist Midlothian Council in preparing the funding application necessary to enable Stage 2 submission to the Heritage Lottery Fund under the Townscape Heritage Programme. The Penicuik Heritage Regeneration Project included several community consultation events which fed into the development of the proposals.

David Millar, Head of Conservation at Austin-Smith:Lord said “ it is rewarding to see that the work our conservation and landscape architects undertook, in assisting Midlothian Council in their HLF stage 2 application, has resulted in this significant investment for the community within Penicuik. We look forward to seeing the impact of the initial project, namely the public realm improvements around the historic core of the town, and we hope that triggers some of the building owners to come forward and take up the offer of grant support for building fabric repairs.”

This funding announcement follows on from the recent Penicuik ‘A Town Hall for All’ project, led by Austin-Smith:Lord, which took place this summer.

‘A Town Hall for All’ went on to feature in the critically acclaimed ‘Scotland + Venice: The Happenstance’, as one of seven projects from across Scotland showcased at this year’s International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia in Venice.