New Life for Local Landmark

ISHBEL CRAWFORD reports on plans to turn Dunoon Burgh Hall into an arts centre

IT MAY have been the sunny bank holiday which brought 2000 people to the launch of the Dunoon Burgh Hall Project earlier this month, but many were undoubtedly curious to find out what the future is for this building, once a symbol of a town at the height of its confidence and self belief.

Few passers-by ignored the invitation of two enthusiastic Friends of the Burgh Hall, a group of local volunteers, to come inside and/or to put a donation in the collecting can.

Dunoon Burgh Hall (photo - Ishbel Crawford)

Inside the building, designed by architect Robert Alexander Bryden and opened in 1874 to celebrate the conferring of Burgh status on Dunoon, the corridors, rooms and stairway were awash with people and enthusiasm.

There was much to see: spinners and artists at work, the local choral society, face painting, school arts competition, craft stalls, Martin Parr’s A8 & Parking Spaces photographs and a collection of paintings from the Glasgow Boys’ school, as well as work by local artists.

Upstairs in the main hall, afternoon tea and cakes were provided by the local deli, with a running programme of entertainment by the Dunoon Grammar School Band, plus performances from folk bands including Canned Haggis, Scottish Country dancing displays, performances by individual singers from local schools, tai chi demonstrations and the Dunoon Pipe Band playing in the street.

The Trust is particularly interested in supporting initiatives which focus on the creative skills of young people

This was very much a community get together in keeping with the former use of the building in the mid 19th century, built to combine the functions of town hall with a community gathering and entertainment space.

The Hall had served as a public facility until around twenty years ago. As visitors wandered round the building, many recalled tea dances, horticultural society shows and fetes held there. But in the late 1980’s it was mothballed by Argyll & Bute Council due to increasing maintenance and running costs.

A display of photographs in the lower rooms showed that much stripping and cleaning had been carried out prior to the launch. The building is now wind and water tight and dry rot has been eradicated. This work has been funded by the owners, the John McAslan Family Trust, and was undertaken by local builders, John Brown (Strone) Ltd, with some of the decorating undertaken by the Friends of the Burgh Hall. The main effort of the Friends has been in publicising the project, fundraising and organising the open day.

There was an undoubted sense of optimism in the air, a fresh coat of paint covering the most blatant signs of neglect and aiding an insight into what might be. However, signs of dilapidation were clear. Despite a number of proposals for use over the past twenty years; despite having occupied a key location in the heart of Dunoon town centre and having played an important social role within the community for over 100 years; despite the significance of the building being assessed as high, with a Category B listing in December 1993, the Burgh Hall’s decline had continued until recently.

Following a report commissioned by Strathclyde Building Preservation Trust (SBPT) in 2007 which indicated that the Hall was accelerating towards irrevocable dereliction, the John McAslan Family Trust bought the building from then owners, Fyne Homes Ltd. with the intention of giving it back to the community as an arts and media venue. The Trust is particularly interested in supporting initiatives which focus on the creative skills of young people.

John McAslan is from Dunoon and has an architect’s practice in London, John McAslan and Partners (JMP), perhaps best known for its revival of London’s Roundhouse, completed in 2006 and the De La Warr Pavilion refurbishment – Bexhill on Sea by Eric Mendlesohn and Serge Chermayeff, built in the mid 1930’s (completed 1935) and one of the most important modernist buildings in Britain.

It was refurbished, completed in 2005, with JMP as the architects. The De La Warr Pavilion is a particularly important parallel to this project as Bexhill was a rather run down seaside town – less vibrant than Dunoon, in fact. The Pavilion project acted as a catalyst which got a lot of other regeneration initiatives going and the town has improved considerably. The Building is a venue for major art exhibitions and a variety of performance and also for education and locally staged events.

John’s practice has drawn up plans for the Burgh Hall which were displayed in a slide show at the launch, with accompanying explanations by Peter McLaughlin, who heads up the JMP’s Edinburgh Office and Sarah MacKinnon from SBPT. The plans include an exhibition and performance space, toilets, a kitchen, café, bookshop, the development of a caretaker’s flat and a lift to allow access to all.

The intention is to carry out the development in four phases, the final to be completed by 2014, when it is hoped the venue will be attracting international artists. However, Peter stressed that the plans are only a set of ideas at the moment, waiting to be developed.

This month’s launch was the first in what is planned to be a series of events over the next few years while renovation work is carried out. The intention is to use the building as a venue, gallery and community space during this time, allowing the community to see how the project is developing and, at the same time, helping to fund the work being carried out. This is also intended to give the community a real sense of ownership and to provide opportunities for both formal and informal training and education.

Sarah MacKinnon of SBPT is managing one half of the project, dealing with saving the building. She explained that what is needed is a fusion of two energies, one side dealing with the building work – this is in place with the SBPT and the John McAslan Family Trust – and along side this, a community project group to take the ideas forward, to apply for the funding needed and to work towards a real cultural centre, focussing on getting young people involved in arts and local culture. Members from the community are urgently needed to form this group.

While enthusiasm and goodwill go a long way (and there was no shortage of either at the launch), it is hard cash and community involvement that will see the future of Dunoon’s Burgh Hall assured. Meantime, the Hall remains on the Scottish Civic Trust’s national list of endangered buildings and it will not come off the list until the funds are in place to develop it.

© Ishbel Crawford, 2009

Links

• Burgh Hall Project