One of Europe’s fastest-growing cities, Inverness is a popular tourist destination, situated less than two hours by plane from London. As the capital of the Highlands, Inverness benefits from 7.5 million annual visitors from all over the world to the Highlands. This has an indirect economic impact for the area estimated at £265mn, in addition to some £60mn in annual hotel revenue generated from an 85% hotel occupancy rate.
The city’s importance as a historic and cultural centre has been reflected in the decision to transform Inverness Castle and its immediate surroundings via a major redevelopment of the famous Castlehill area.
Partnership-led regeneration
The Castlehill development scheme, valued at up to £135mn in total, is backed by a public-private partnership featuring the Scottish and UK governments, the City-Region Deal, the Highland Council, Highlands & Islands Enterprise, Visit Scotland, Creative Scotland and the Scottish government’s Gaelic agency, Bòrd na Gàidhlig.
The commitment of these organisations shows the scheme’s potential as a once-in-a-generation opportunity to transform the city centre into a cultural and historic focal point for both Inverness and the wider Highlands, attracting people to the Inverness city centre and visitors to extend their stay in the region.
Work is underway
The Castlehill project comprises five distinct phases, with phase one – which saw the £10mn restoration of Inverness Town House, and £3.5mn improvement to nearby Castle Viewpoint and its adjoining Castle Wynd streetscape – completed in 2020.
Phase two, currently underway, involves transforming the major tourist attraction, Inverness Castle and is expected to be finished in 2025 at a cost of £36mn. Phase three is due to begin this year to develop the Inverness Castle Energy Centre by 2025. The energy centre will help Scotland become a low carbon nation, as per the Highland Council-led Carbon CLEVER initiative with a target of creating a carbon neutral Inverness in low carbon Highlands by 2025.
Looking to the future, the remaining two phases are open to innovative proposals that will bring out Castlehill’s commercial and cultural potential. Phase four’s goal is to turn Bridge Street into an exciting commercial tourism area via a five-year work programme worth up to £45m, and phase five will reimagine Castle Street as a cultural quarter with £35mn worth of development.
Culture – a transformative force for good
The rationale for Castlehill’s emphasis on culture sits within Scotland’s wider cultural strategic ambitions, which sees the country overall as a place where culture is valued, protected and nurtured, woven throughout everyday life, its transformative potential available to all.
Inverness’ potential as the cultural hub of the Highlands will be enhanced by the new facilities that the redevelopment will bring, in particular through phases four and five. This could be anything from the region’s first major art gallery and museum that can permanently bring back and house Highlands-related collections located elsewhere, to a local distillery that can boost the offer for booming spirits tourism.
As per Scotland’s Town Centre First Principle, government, local authorities, the wider public sector, businesses and communities need to put the health of town centres at the heart of decision-making. Together with the strong, established public-private partnership and the clear potential of the city centre site, the ambitious Castlehill development regeneration is well underway to become a world-class attraction that brings back life into the city centre.
CONTACT
Allan Maguire
Head of Development, Highland Council
allan.maguire@highland.gov.uk
+44 (0) 7771 504530
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