£1.5m to help YMCA turn church into youth work hub
Plans to transform an abandoned Perth church building have been handed a £1.5 million boost.
The Scottish Government has confirmed the funding will come from its Regeneration Capital Grant Fund (RCGF) for the Perth Y Centre on Atholl Street.
The YMCA wants to turn the 130-year-old St Andrew’s and St Stephen’s Church into a dedicated centre for youth work.
Initial plans put forward would have seen the prominent C-listed Gothic building bulldozed to clear the way for a new operations centre and more than 20 flats from YMCA Tayside.
But that plan was abandoned and replaced with an alternative one that will retain the building, but tear down an unsafe extension at the back. The YMCA wants to create a new headquarters over three floors.
There are also plans to build four flats at an adjacent tenement block on North William Street.
The YMCA has owned the building since 2000 and the project is expected to cost a total of £3.5m.
Roseanna Cunningham MSP was delighted to hear the news.
She said:“The former St Andrew’s and St Stephen’s Church on Atholl Street may now be just outside the boundaries of my constituency, but this is a project which I have followed closely for many years and that I have no doubt will bring great benefit to young people throughout Perthshire.
“It is always a joy to see old buildings that have lain derelict for many years repurposed and brought back to life, and that is even more the case when the redevelopment creates an asset for the community with the creation of dynamic, versatile youth centre in the middle of the city.”