East Ayrshire Council has confirmed that plans to transfer the iconic White Tiled Building to Celebrate Kilmarnock have been scrapped.
The cost and longer term viability of the community group’s plan for a ‘Creative Cyber Campus’ in the heart of the town has been put down to the impact of covid, Brexit, war and high inflation.
Significant investment has been made by the council, who bought the property in 2019 for £250,000. A further £1.5m was allocated to it early in 2020, as a ‘lever’ for investment from other sources.
Asbestos removal was carried out in 2021, with the £462,000 cost covered by the Scottish government’s Town Centre Regeneration Fund. The cabinet subsequently agreed to allocate £1.37m in Regeneration Capital Grant Funding (RCGF) in April 2022.
However, this was on the condition that Celebrate Kilmarnock took over ownership of the building from the council. On Wednesday, the Cabinet will hear that Celebrate Kilmarnock submitted a Community Asset Transfer application shortly after the conditional RCGF money was confirmed.
The report continued: “Officers have been engaging with Celebrate Kilmarnock throughout the process to assess the project business case, seeking further evidence to allow a CAT determination to be made.
“However within this timeframe, world events, covid, brexit, cost of living and war in Ukraine, alongside the current challenges of inflation and borrowing costs, have significantly impacted the availability and cost of materials, effectively tripling utility costs and fundamentally jeopardising the feasibility of the capital project within available resources, as well as the ongoing sustainability of the revenue project.
“In this context and through continuing discussion, Celebrate Kilmarnock have decided to withdraw their CAT application and it will not progress.”
Councillors will be told that the Scottish Government has been informed of Celebrate Kilmarnock’s decision, which was a condition of the RCGF investment. Despite this, the RCGF have told EAC that they ‘would be happy’ to consider future plans for the building.
They were also able to redirect a portion of the money earmarked for the White Tiled Building (£146k) to Above Adventure to fill a funding gap there.
The report concluded: “Celebrate Kilmarnock and East Ayrshire Council continue to work in partnership to improve the town centre and continue to move forward positively, through the newly established Kilmarnock Strategic Group.”
The group will now be responsible for explore future options for the building, alongside the wider strategy for council-owned buildings.
Cabinet will consider the report on Wednesday.
Read next:
- Hugh Grant stuns diners at Ayrshire restaurant after arriving in town
- New parking restrictions at Ayrshire retail park with £100 fine warning issued
- Ayrshire takeaways in 'sad copycat' war of words over logo and brand colours
- Retired Ayrshire teacher sheds six stone after 'challenging herself'
- 'Horrendous' Ayr High Street flats plan approved as local makes 'torture' comparison
Don't miss the latest Ayrshire headlines – sign up to our free daily newsletter
