TEN YEARS AGO Friday November 16, 2012

Restoration of Lochgilphead’s Clock Lodge under review

The amount of money needed to restore Lochgilphead’s Clock Lodge into a usable space will be known in the coming weeks as specialists are drafted in to survey the building.

A team of architects and surveyors has been employed to assess the condition of the grade B-listed building and provide costs for the repair and adaptation of the building for a number of potential uses.

The assessment is part of an overall options appraisal being carried out by Lochgilphead Phoenix Project and Strathclyde Building Preservation Trust.

It aims to find ways in which the building could be used in the future.

The Phoenix project, which aims to improve Lochgilphead, has launched a consultation asking locals what they would like to do with the building.

The survey asks people what services they feel are lacking in the town and if they know of local organisations that may benefit from using the space in the building.

Malcolm Sinclair, secretary of the Lochgilphead Phoenix Project, said the feedback from the community would be collated and a public workshop held to identify the top four options. These options will be passed to the architect team to cost.

‘The options appraisal will allow us to establish which options are physically best suited and financially viable for the adaptive reuse of the building,’ said Mr Sinclair.

Lochgilphead Phoenix Project expressed an interest in taking ownership of the Clock Lodge from Argyll and Bute Council last year and it was formally put up for sale in October 2011. Built in the 1830s, the lodge has laid dormant for almost 30 years.