The Rothesay Townscape Heritage Initiative (THI) is an exciting project which seeks to revitalise a defined core area within Rothesay’s historic town centre, by offering grants to property owners, and focusing on structural and external repairs to priority buildings.  The core area includes Guildford Square and surrounding streets – you can view the THI area and current projects on the attached map.

The project is funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund (£1,500,000), Historic Scotland (£499,933), Argyll & Bute Council (£500,000) and LEADER (£107,839) – which means the total funding available is approximately £2.6 million.  It is a 5 year project, therefore it will run until March 2016.

The aim of the Rothesay THI project is to make Rothesay town centre a better place to live, work and visit, by repairing the structure and external fabric (envelope) of priority buildings within the conservation area.  We plan to revitalise Guildford Square by offering grant to property owners to restore the quality of their historic buildings.  No grant will be offered at 100%, therefore owners will be required to part-fund the works if their application is successful.  More information about this can be found on the grant information and application forms page.

Training and Education

Training courses and other events will be held in order to improve the building conservation skills and understanding of traditional materials amongst local contractors and the community.  These events will seek to encourage regular maintenance, and promote the unique identity of Rothesay and the wider Island.  The aim is to involve the community in every aspect of these initiatives.  

To view a summary of all training and events held to date, please download this booklet. If you would like to be added to the mailing list for upcoming events please contact gillian.allenby@argyll-bute.gov.uk.