A major regeneration plan has been unveiled to lure visitors, investment and jobs to a historic Perthshire community.
Project leaders want to breathe new life into a redundant printing plant at the centre of Coupar Angus, understood to be the site of a long-lost monastery.
The Printworx venture aims to transform the vacant Queen Street property into a hub for retailers, artists and other businesses.
The earmarked building has lain vacant since the Culross printing company closed its doors after 170 years in 2012.
Now the Coupar Angus Regeneration Trust (CART) is preparing to take the wraps off its ambitious £1 million-plus redevelopment scheme at a meeting this week.
Jill Davies, from CART, said it would be setting up as a social enterprise company to take the proposal forward.
“The facilities will include a large retail space for a destination retail business, with cafe, exhibition meeting space, collaborative working space and an artists’ community area,” she said.
“The project is designed to create employment, increase visitor numbers and support existing businesses in the town.”
She added: “There are so many people in the area working as artists and crafters who need studios and space for making glass and dying wool so the print works could be ideal for them and would also provide an exhibition area.”
Negotiations are continuing between the trust and the Royal Bank of Scotland, which owns the brickwork property.
Draft plans for the building, including an artist’s impression produced using the Sims 4 video game, will be put to selected artists and crafters at an invitation-only consultation event in the Red House Hotel on Wednesday evening.
The event, from 6.30pm-8.30pm, is to gather feedback to help shape the project before a formal planning application is submitted.
Before any work can begin on site, archaeologists will be drafted in to search for any trace of the medieval Coupar Angus Abbey.
A survey will be carried out to discover how much of the abbey’s foundations still remain. It was once regarded as the richest abbey in Scotland and many of its artefacts remain unfound.
The abbey dates back to the 12th Century and, over the years, the town grew around it. After the reformation of 1560, the monastery and its surrounding buildings fell into disrepair. Its stonework was broken down and recycled at other locations across the Coupar Angus area.
Culross closed its doors in November 2012 with the loss of six jobs.
At the time, the firm was described by local MSP John Swinney as a “first-class company” and its loss was a major blow to the East Perthshire economy.
The regeneration trust was established in 1999 to investigate a range of projects to boost the town.