A disused toilet facility and alleyway in Perth city centre is being transformed into a cinema and art hub.
Ropemakers Close is being spruced up by mental wellbeing charity Plus Perth, led by Susan Scott.
The organisation has raised around £150,000 via local funding grants to rejuvenate the area, with the project getting underway in January this year.
Plus Perth is also funded by the neighbourhood ecosystem fund, awarded by Inspiring Scotland to deliver the collaborative project.
It is hoped the former public toilet block will soon be a hive of activity, with plans for exhibitions, climate talks and a film screen for around 30 people.
Plus Perth has also planted a community garden at the back of the building, called Horners Plot, to attract more wildlife to the city centre.
Susan, 61, told The Courier she hopes Ropemakers can become a “safe and secure space” for the people of Perth.
Perth charity hoping to transform disused city centre space
She said: “The area is needing a bit of community spirit because it’s just gone downhill over the last decade.
“Film screenings will be one thing we’re hoping to implement.
“It will be films based on nature or the environment but also films to help people’s attitudes change around mental health, wellbeing and how to look after yourself.
“We’ve done film festivals in the past.
“We’ll have markets and art products being sold, as well as nature open days where people come in and speak about how to be good to nature.
“We’re really hoping to bring that community spirit back by having something in the centre of the town.
“Once it’s busier and cleaner around here, there’s less chance of anti-social behaviour.
“It’ll make it a bit more vibrant.
“A lot of the surrounding shopkeepers are fed up because people aren’t coming to this part of town because they’re not feeling safe.”
Cinema and art hub plan for ‘unkempt’ Ropemakers Close
Susan added: “We’ve got 400 members in our charity and a lot of them have said that they’d like to have art exhibitions and sell crafts.
“Some of this area is really unkempt at the minute and I’ve heard people saying that they should just pave it over and we don’t want that.”
Susan has been documenting the project on Instagram, showing the progress of the toilet block renovation and surrounding alleyway, which she hopes to turn into a colourful walkway.
It is hoped the transformation will be complete by Christmas.
Councillor Andrew Parrott said: “I am fully supportive of all the hard work that Susan Scott and the Plus Perth team have done to create and start bringing about a vision for a much tidier, cleaner and more attractive Ropemakers Close between South Street and Canal Street.
“I am grateful for all that they have done and are doing and hope I can help them bring about the full scope of the vision for improving the close.
“Importantly this project will create a much improved space, improving the ambience and amenity of the immediate area, that hopefully will not suffer from the problems that presently persist.”
Conversation