Councillors approve £50,000 boost for bid to reopen landmark

Funding for project to breathe new life into Dunfermline’s oldest building

Fresh funding is helping to secure a new future for Dunfermline’s oldest house.

City of Dunfermline councillors have given £50,000 towards ambitious £500,000 proposals to reopen Abbot House.

The Pink Hoose was once the jewel in the crown of the town’s heritage quarter so there was widespread dismay when it had to close its doors three years ago due to financial pressures.

Since then, the heritage centre, which had survived the Great Fire of Dunfermline in 1624, has remained closed while, next door, the award-winning Dunfermline Carnegie Library and Galleries has become a runaway success.

The Carnegie Dunfermline Trust, which owns the building, has been completing a backlog of work while working out a viable operating model that could ensure its future as a major visitor attraction.

The total repair programme and fit-out will be £530,000.

A charitable organisation, the Abbot House SCIO, has been set up and so far has secured more than £370,000 from organisations including the Carnegie Dunfermline Trust, the Architectural Heritage Fund, Historic Environment Scotland, Fife Environmental Trust, Fife Council and Common Good Fund; a further £55,000 is pending.

The committee was asked for £50,000 to repair and enhance the building and to buy equipment.

Once it opens as a cultural hub, drawing in more tourists to the area, a trading company will operate and donate a proportion of its profits to the charity for its upkeep, with the aim that it will become sustainable.

Some councillors were concerned that previous efforts to run the heritage centre had failed.

The committee agreed to the funding but members said they would need regular updates about the project.

Labour councillor Helen Law, the convener of the committee, said: “Abbot House is one of Dunfermline’s most historic and iconic attractions.

“It has now been closed for three years and there’s a real local commitment and drive to reopen the building.

“Abbot House is a beautiful and historic centrepiece to the heritage quarter, which incorporates the abbey, palace, galleries and Pittencrieff Park and it’s important for Dunfermline that we make the most of our heritage.

“Reopening Abbot House would help re-establish the city of Dunfermline as a top-class tourist destination.”

“Abbot House is a beautiful and historic centrepiece to the heritage quarter. COUNCILLOR HELEN LAW

Picture: DN Anderson Photography. Abbot House in Dunfermline closed three years ago and proposals are now ongoing to revive it with a programme of repairs estimated at £530,000.