Update on Lochgilphead’s Clock Lodge

Malcolm Sinclair, secretary of Lochgilphead Phoenix Project – the group promoting the restoration of Clock Lodge – offers an insight into the present status of the initiative to bring the prominent building into productive use. Work by MacLeod Constructio

MANY people have let us know how much they appreciate the fact that the Clock Lodge is no longer a blight on the town.

The journey to date has been long, with founder members championing the restoration of the building since before the Lochgilphead Phoenix Project (LPP) was established as a registered charity back in 2009.

We are by no means at the end of the trail, but we are continuing to work on the production of a viable plan for the final transformation – from a redundant building at risk to the home of a viable and sustainable community facility.

To bring you up to date, [rural supplies firm] Harbro have completed the initial wind and watertight repairs to the lodge; a requirement before they could construct their new country store at the southern end of the site. They plan to have their new store open for business before the end of the year. The LPP has a 99-year lease on the building with a provision that full refurbishment is completed within the next five years.

We have been con- tinuing to promote the cause at every opportunity, such as last year’s Crinan corridor charrette and during Argyll Enterprise Week, but until the roof repairs in particular had been completed we were constrained from showing off the building’s potential to prospective partners.

We are now in a position to safely access and to follow up on possible long-term solutions.

It is early days yet, but we are excited by a proposal to develop the lodge, for example, as a youth arts base working with the Templar Arts and Leisure Trust and Artmap Argyll.

Stating the obvious, these things take time, but we are not going away.

Visit our website www.lochgilpheadphoenix.wordpress.com for more details.

If any readers are interested in working with us on the lodge and would like to view inside, do get in touch via our website.

And the building as it now looks.

Clock Lodge Before repair works began.

The task faced by MacLeod Construction ahead of work starting.