St Kilda centre study

Plans to build a world class St Kilda centre in Lewis will be debated at a conference in Stornoway this week.

The proposed development at Mangersta, Uig, would attract thousands of visitors to the Hebrides annually, creating new jobs, providing a huge tourism boost and helping the local economy.

St Kilda is a double World Heritage Site and UNESCO has adopted the project as a pilot for how to develop remote access to the many world heritage sites which are not easily available to visitors.

Building what is called a "remote access" centre is a solution to capitalise on the growing number of people visiting important heritage landmarks, avoiding environmental damage to the place itself.

Dramatic cliffs at Mangersta in Uig, Lewis - resembling the wild landscape of St Kilda - will provide a stunning backdrop to the proposed facility.

Feedback from Thursday's event will shape the crucial final business plan and funding bid.

The feasibility study, three consultancy reports making recommendations on the building’s design and contents, as well as commercial viability, will be scrutinised at the symposium.

The final blueprint is hoped to attract sufficient support from potential funders to allow the project to proceed, on a phased basis, with an opening in time for the 90th anniversary of St Kilda’s evacuation which occurred in 1930.

Speakers include Peter Debrine, Paris-based director of World Heritage and Sustainable Tourism for UNESCO.

Mr Debrine said: “”We have followed the St Kilda project with great interest, both on its own merits and because of the potential for remote access to the many World Heritage sites which are difficult or impossible for significant numbers of visitors to reach.

"If delivered to a high standard, remote access can provide the best possible alternative for that experience.

“It is also an objective of UNESCO to see communities benefitting from sustainable tourism around World Heritage sites.

"To achieve this, it is essential for communities themselves to involved in defining the nature and extent of developments. In this respect also, the St Kilda project has much wider significance for World Heritage sites in general.”

Iain Buchanan, chairman of Ionad Hiort, said: “This would be a transformational project for a very fragile community and would bring economic benefit to the Western Isles as a whole.

"It will only succeed if it a world-class facility, both as a visitor attraction and also as a research centre for the study of remote communities and the challenges they face.”

Around 60 representatives from a wide range of government and other organisations will take part in the symposium.

They include Scotland Office minister, Andrew Dunlop, HIE chief executive Alex Paterson and Alexander Bennett of the National Trust for Scotland who own the St Kilda archipelago.

Key investors to debate plans for St Kilda centre

17 August 2016

Iain Buchanan, chairman of Ionad Hiort