An innovative and exciting move to enhance cultural facilities in Perth has taken a major step forward as the renovation of Perth City Hall gathers pace.
The next stage of work on the facility, which will house the Stone of Destiny in a new museum, has started with the construction of a pavilion at the Hall’s entrance.
And the great news for culture vultures in Tayside and beyond is that the venue – which once hosted sell-out music concerts, exhibitions and dances – is on course to reopen on time and on budget in 2024.
Perth City Hall, which will be managed in partnership between Perth and Kinross Council and Culture Perth and Kinross, is supported by £10 million from the UK Government as part of the Tay Cities Region Deal – a £700m regional investment programme jointly funded by the UK and Scottish governments and regional partners.
It is predicted that the City Hall project will bring tens of thousands more visitors to Perth and Kinross, with an annual Gross Value Added (GVA) to the local area estimated at £2.5million.
And there’s good news on the jobs front, too. The City Hall project will create 19 positions at the Hall itself when it’s completed – with an additional 37 jobs being created during its construction.
This development is helping cement Scotland’s position as a cultural hub that is popular with visitors from around the UK, Europe and beyond.
Along the River Tay, in Dundee, the V&A Museum has been a major hit with visitors since it opened in 2018 and it has provided a major boost to the local and Scottish economy.
It is estimated that visitors in the first 12 months of the V&A being open were worth £21 million to the Dundee economy and £75 million to the Scottish economy. This exceeded earlier predictions of £10 million in Dundee and £23 million across Scotland.
And the V&A has been accompanied by the development of an outdoor leisure and concert space, Slessor Gardens, which has a capacity of 11,000 people for gigs and will this summer welcome Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds to the Dundee Waterfront venue.
Elsewhere in Scotland’s cities, the Macrobert Arts Centre in Stirling is a popular cultural destination for theatre, cinema and music lovers, and in Inverness, the Eden Court complex is the go-to venue for those wanting to enjoy theatre, music and the latest film releases.
These hubs prove that the cultural scene is thriving all over Scotland, as well as in our three biggest cities, which offer fantastic facilities that bring millions of pounds in the economy and attract huge visitor numbers each year.
The P&J Live events complex in Aberdeen and the SEC campus Glasgow provide major economic benefits to the cities and Scotland as a whole and Edinburgh’s festivals and venues are world renowned.
So all in all, Scotland’s cultural scene is alive and kicking – and this means jobs and commercial opportunities for people and businesses around the country.
X
Linkedin