Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

‘Grounds for optimism’ for Dunfermline town centre’s future

Abbot House
Abbot House

An electric bus route, innovation centre and tourist hostel are just some of the ideas to regenerate Dunfermline’s historical heart.

Those were some of the findings of the newly published Design Dunfermline 2018 report following an intensive four-day community-led workshop and extensive research.

The publication looks at the long term vision for the town centre, using Dunfermline’s heritage to promote economic growth.

It found that although it faces the same challenges as every town centre around the country, there were grounds for optimism.

The charrette – one of the best supported in Scotland – discovered the Fire Station Creative, new Dunfermline Carnegie Library and Galleries and Outwith Festival showed it is enjoying a growing cultural profile.

A number of developers are helping increase the town centre housing stock – most notably at Pilmuir Works.

Graphic showing how the redeveloped building will look.

In addition, Fife Pilgrims Way is expected to draw more visitors to Scotland’s ancient capital.


BLACK FRIDAY OFFER: Two years of unlimited access to The Courier Digital — at better than half price!


The report paints a comprehensive picture of activity already under way and some of the future plans by public, private and third sector bodies.

Six major developments have been highlighted.

Design Dunfermline 2018, commissioned by Dunfermline Heritage Partnership and run by Sam Foster Architects with Oliver Chapman Architects, hopes organisations and the community might consider progressing some of them.

They include:

* The reopening next year of Abbot House as a cultural hub and venue. More than £400,000 has been secured for the project while the Carnegie Dunfermline Trust has undertaken maintenance work on what is Dunfermline’s oldest house;

* A co-lab where small businesses, students and other organisations can share work space and ventures. Lottery funding will go towards a feasibility student for the innovation centre. Early talks have taken place with Fife College as a potential partner;

* St Margaret’s House in the heritage quarter turned into tourist hostel accommodation. Funds have been secured to review local accommodation and set out a business case;

* Covered outdoor area with potential sites Bruce Street or the High Street gap site. A consortium would be needed to progress this;

* Making the town centre accessible for all. Some projects, like the inclusive play park in the Glen and dementia-friendly businesses, have already started. However, a plan would need to be developed;

* Evaluate an electric bus circuit between the bus and train station and park and ride. This is just at the idea stage.

Halbeath Park and Ride.

Dunfermline Heritage Partnership chairman Derek Bottom said it was overwhelmed by such positive involvement so early in what was the first initiative in a three-year programme funded by the Great Places scheme.

City of Dunfermline committee convener, Labour councillor Helen Law, said Fife Council would continue to support projects emerging from the report as much as possible.