Sloans demolition project in Wick needs additional funding to fix gable end

An additional funding of £12,000 was approved by the Caithness Committee today to fix "inappropriate and unsatisfactory" stonework after demolition of the former Sloans building in Wick.

Members of Highland Council’s Caithness Committee approved the additional funding for a project to "bring new life" to the site in the town's High Street.

In September last year, the Scottish Government announced extra funding through the Town Centre Fund as part of its national economic recovery stimulus package, particularly aimed at supporting construction activity across Scotland. The council has received an additional £1,066,000, providing an extra £56,104 for investing into Thurso and Wick.

Members agreed that £12,000 of this money can now go towards additional works deemed necessary for completion of the project.

Last year the council successfully accessed grant funding from the Scottish Government’s Vacant and Derelict Land Fund and Town Centre Fund (TCF) which provided funding for the Highland Housing Alliance (HHA) to acquire a derelict property with land at 126 High Street. HHA had been managing the demolition of the property before transferring the land to the Wick Development Trust for redevelopment.

However, on completion of the demolition works it became apparent that the original scope of the works proposed, to make good the exposed gable end of the adjacent property, was considered by the property owner as inappropriate and unsatisfactory. Consequently, a more permanent solution involving stonework repairs was devised and agreed. This has left the project with a projected overspend of £12,000.

The decision by councillors today, means £12,000 of the extra TCF will go to HHA to absorb this "unforeseen package of additional works".

Committee chairperson, Councillor Nicola Sinclair said: “The decision today means the project can be completed and the site passed to the community. At a time when communities have pulled together more than ever before during the coronavirus pandemic, I am sure that local people will have new and creative ideas for the sites that could benefit the people of Wick in the long term.”

Apart from the Sloans building, the former Pavilion cinema and Dominoes nightclub, at the western end of High Street, was also flattened last year. Wick Development Trust – branded as Wick’s Heart – hopes both sites can be redeveloped, tying in with the overall plans for town centre regeneration.

All TCF money needs to be committed by March this year and projects completed by September 2021.

Members have agreed that a special committee meeting be arranged next month to consider council led projects which could benefit from the remaining £44,104 TCF investment.

Demolished town centre sites in Wick due to be handed over by end of October

Do you want to respond to this article? If so, click here to submit your thoughts and they may be published in print.