The planned multi-million-pound development of Hospitalfield in Arbroath has taken a major step forward.
The historic Arbroath mansion is at the heart of an ambitious vision to enhance its role as a key cultural hub for Angus and beyond, and yesterday saw the launch of a fundraising campaign aimed at ensuring the plans will progress in 2016.
Hospitalfield governors have announced their intention to progress the first stage of what has been named the Future Plan, which aims to develop the design and detail of the complex scheme.
The design team is being led by the architects Caruso St John, who were at Hospitalfield yesterday to begin the “very exciting and painstaking” role.
Simon Dessain, chairman of the Hospitalfield Trust, said: “These plans are all very exciting and we could not be more delighted to be working with Caruso St John, but the focus for the governors must now be the fundraising target.
“This is an intelligent approach to renewing Hospitalfield; a project that will balance the renewal of some of the most fragile historic buildings on the site with the development of new facilities this is a very special project for Arbroath, for Angus and indeed for Scotland.”
Caruso St John’s recent projects include the multi-award-winning renovation of the Tate Britain Millbank project. Last December the practice also won the competition to restore, restructure and add to Gunnar Asplund’s renowned Stockholm city library.
Over the last 12 months, Hospitalfield has secured a grant of £500,000 from Historic Scotland and a first stage pass for a £1 million grant from Creative Scotland.
The stage 2 applications must be submitted by July this year.
The £3.5m first stage of the project will be focused on the 1850 and 1901 studio buildings, renovation of the Victorian fernery and gardens and the development of new studio and residential buildings.
Hospitalfield director Lucy Byatt said: “Completing stage one will make everything at Hospitalfield work better; we will be able to bring more visitors to Hospitalfield as well as generating income that will ensure a bright future for this wonderful place.
“Stage two is a highly complex stage that will focus on the heritage, the house and collections. This requires a great deal of research and development, some of which we are already tackling.
“Completing stage one will give us the motivation we require to tackle stage two. It’s an ambitious project but really so exciting.”
Artists come to Hospitalfield from across the globe for residential programmes with a variety of cultural experts and the current programme aims to build on that diverse audience and develop new commissions.
The next stage of the fundraising programme will be an event on February 6.
By the time of the July submission of the design report, the governors must demonstrate to Creative Scotland that 76% of the project funding is in place, with 48% currently in the programme.
Ms Byatt said the first phase was aimed at ensuring Hospitalfield’s economic sustainability.
“The building of a new residential building will allow income generation, where we can accommodate national and international study groups is an aspect of our work that we can grow without placing undue pressure on the valuable heritage of the house,” she added.