Work Starts on £4 Redevelopment of Thurso Town Hall

Works gets underway today (Tuesday) on the £4 million redevelopment of Thurso Town Hall to create a first class visitor centre, museum and community resource.

A 52-week contract has been awarded to O’Brien Construction Ltd by Caithness Horizons, a company limited by guarantee with charitable status, which was formed to take forward the exciting project.

The buildings will remain in the ownership of The Highland Council, who are one of the main funders of the project.

Chairman of Caithness Horizons, Paul Cariss, said:  “A lot of hard work has gone into getting this project to this advanced stage and we are indebted to all the funders for their support.  The centre promises to deliver an outstanding facility, which will benefit the local community and visitors to the area.”
Caithness councillors are delighted at the support given by the Council to the project, which amounts to £1.8m.

Councillor John Rosie, who is a board member of Caithness Horizons, said: "This project represents the single biggest investment in tourism leisure and community facilities in the county for many many years. It breathes new life into a landmark building in Thurso and promises to provide the area with a very welcome economic lift. It is also an outstanding example of partnership working between a number of public agencies and the community."

Another Board member of Caithness Horizons, Councillor Donald Mackay  welcomed the go ahead. He said: "This is great news for Caithness. The redevelopment of Thurso Town Hall has the potential to create an outstanding facility in the centre of Thurso for the benefit of local people and visitors to Caithness and the North Highlands. Hopefully, Caithness will soon have a museum and visitor attraction with enhanced community facilities that we can all be proud of. We very much welcome the support given by the Council towards this important project."

As well as providing modern facilities for community and educational use, the refurbished buildings will contain a high quality accredited museum telling the human and environmental story of Caithness. The museum will bring together existing collections held in the area by Thurso Heritage Society, the Council and the UKAEA, the three partners who have formed a joint venture to take the project forward.

The facility will remain open throughout the year, with free entry and will incorporate a Tourist Information Centre. A learning centre will provide locally accessible resources and facilities for schools and lifelong learning, as well as for academic courses and research in collaboration with North Highland College UHI.

Other funding has come from UKAEA, the Heritage Lottery Fund, Caithness and Sutherland Enterprise, Historic Scotland, Scottish Natural Heritage, Castle of Mey Trust and the Nuclear Decommissioning Agency.