MAKE TIME FOR THE GLASITE TOMORROW

Submitted by Editor on Fri, 12/12/2014 - 09:01

The Glasite Meeting House on Barony Street will be open to visitors this Saturday from 10am–4pm.

Scottish Historic Buildings Trust staff will be on hand to show off the newly decorated rooms and improved services.

Christmas shopping items (Ritchie Collins and ‘Anonymous Paper Sculptor’ merchandise) will be on offer, and there's an exhibition featuring work by Edinburgh-based artist Francesca Wilkinson Shaw.

SHBT – which replaced the Scottish Music Group here in the autumn – will gladly talk about the Category A-listed building’s fascinating past, but crucially they’re as interested in discussing its future.

They seek local ideas about how the building should be used. What do Broughton residents want from this atmospheric space at the very heart of their community?

Such questions are at the root of SHBT’s role as an organisation. Working by itself or in partnership with other groups, the conservation charity restores and finds viable futures for vulnerable listed buildings, always with a keen eye on how they will be embedded in their neighbourhoods.

The trust took shape in its current form in 2010, but since the 1980s has raised over £25m and brought some 30 historic properties back to life.

SHBT will be based in Barony Street for the next two years while work continues to restore and upgrade its new headquarters at Riddle's Court in the Old Town.

Their plan thereafter, says property manager Gail Raselli, is to retain the Glasite as an asset which can be let out as a source of revenue. Possible uses include flexible space for conference, exhibition, performance and craft-fair events, and office accommodation (see pdf at foot of page).

Spurtle would welcome almost anything which doesn't involve a national supermarket chain or J. D. Weatherspoon.

For more information, visit the Trust’s website here.