Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Youth hub dream taking shape at last thanks to funding
WORK has started on the conversion of a former Perth church into a £4.3 million youth centre.
YMCA Tayside is turning the former St Andrew’s and St Stephen’s Church on Atholl Street into its new headquarters and a hub for young people, called the Y Centre.
The group, formerly known as Perth and District YMCA, bought the C-listed building in December 2000 and has spent years trying to bring its ideas to life.
The church was last used in the 1990s and was due to be bulldozed, but that plan was later abandoned.
Facilities in the new centre will be spread over three floors, with dedicated spaces for things like health and wellbeing, training and customer service qualifications and a Y Innovate Hub to help young people enhance their digital media skills.
New flats will also be created, for use by those transitioning from supported temporary housing to their own tenancies – allowing them to receive support from youth workers.
And at the centre of the building will be a “wall of wonder” area – designed by young people with the help of an interior design team – which will include seating and hidden storage. It is hoped the new centre will be open by spring 2023.
The project has had backing from sources including £1.5m from the Scottish Government’s Regeneration Capital Grant Fund, £1m from the Gannochy Trust, £250,000 from the Robertson Trust, £250,000 from the Northwood Charitable Trust and £50,000 from Perth and Kinross Council in its latest budget.
YMCA chiefs say they are “thrilled” to hit this milestone.
Layla Riddoch, a member of YMCA Tayside’s Youth Voice, said: “We put together a collage of photographs of what we wanted to see in the Y Centre at the very start. We thought, dream big... and now all of our ideas are coming to life.”