Lodge at park may be given green revamp

An old Angus park keeper’s cottage is being lined up for a carbon-cutting conversion to bring it back into use as a council house.

There have been repeated calls for the lodge at the entrance to Boyle Park in Forfar to be made suitable for renting, after lying empty for years.

Local people have said it is a shame to see the substantial property unused for so long.

The building and its surrounds have also become a target for vandals.

While its boarded-up windows were painted in a community art project to brighten up the house.

Now Angus Council is asking the Scottish Government for funding to make the gifted building an energy-efficient showpiece for the future.

Forfar councillor Colin Brown has been pressing for action to bring the property back into use.

He said: “This could make a lovely home, ideally for someone who would take pride in the garden and make it a nice entrance to the park.

“I didn’t want to see it sold off, as happened to other park houses previously.

“So I’m glad that it looks like something is finally going to be done with it, but it’s still disappointing it has taken us so long to get to this stage.”

The local authority wants to retrofit energy-saving technology to the house in the 84-year-old park, which could include heat pumps or solar panels.

Results from the Forfar project could influence the conversion of other older buildings in the council’s housing stock.

The council is targeting a net-zero carbon emission figure in less than 25 years for all of its housing.

Councillors agreed to move the lodge to the housing account earlier this year.

A report added: “The property is currently the subject of a research study to assist the council in identifying innovation and best practice in energy efficiency which can be applied to older, hard to treat housing stock.

“A full energy efficiency retrofit to the property will follow aligned to future standards that relate to energy efficiency, carbon reduction and affordable warmth.

“Actual energy efficiency performance will then be monitored and compared against the design performance to allow us to learn and apply that knowledge in future energy-saving projects, allowing us to move towards the aim that all social housing stock will achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2045.

“An application is being prepared to the Scottish Government’s social housing net-zero heat fund to finance the project.”

The house is at the Glamis Road entrance named after Forfarian John Stewart Boyle. He died in Glasgow in 1935, aged 84, but never forgot his Angus roots.

The park was opened in 1937, funded by his widow, Isabella.

GRAND PLAN: The lodge at Boyle Park has been empty for years. Picture by Graham Brown.