Work on Cambuslang’s Grade B listed Institute is proceeding on time, and is set to be completed in time for the spring.
Last year, South Lanarkshire Council confirmed they were to carry out a £766,000 major renovation of the historic building on the town’s Greenlees Road, which started in September.
In addition to the council funds, the repair and refurbishment plans were given a boost with a £56,000 grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund.
This additional grant money is assisting with the repair works and the activities surrounding the research, interpretation and display of the “scavenging” maps of the County of Lanarkshire from 1800 to pre-1974.
It will also be used to research significant events such as the Cambuslang Wark gatherings of 1742 which impacted on the people of Cambuslang and the wider world including the revivalist movement in America.
The Cambuslang Institute, currently the home to a variety of sporting, cultural and meeting facilities, dates back to 1898. The Institute was originally erected between 1892-8, by A Lindsay Miller, being extended in 1906 and 1910. The original intention of the building was to give 19th century weavers and miners an opportunity to use the Institute as a centre to educate themselves.
The building was managed by Glasgow District Council in the mid-70s and was closed for many years in the early 1980s, when woodworm was found within it. As a result, it was modernised and re-opened in 1983.
The facility is now managed by South Lanarkshire Leisure and Culture on behalf of South Lanarkshire Council, and is regularly used by sports clubs, as well as being a wedding venue, and hosting other events such as local history days organised by the Friends of Cambuslang Park, and is used several times each year by the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service.
The council have worked closely with Historic Scotland to ensure the building elements highlighted by the survey are carried out with sensitivity. The work has been developed by the council’s housing and technical resources staff.
A spokesperson for South Lanarkshire Council said: “The Institute is progressing well and is on programme. Once the work has been completed it is planned that the facility will be ready to re-open in the Spring.”
Commenting on the project last year, Councillor Hamish Stewart, chair of community services committee, said: “We are delighted to have been awarded this grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund which will help us safeguard the future of this iconic facility in Cambuslang.
“This is the latest in a number of successful partnership projects with the Heritage Lottery Fund which has seen the improvement of facilities across a range of venues throughout South Lanarkshire.”
Colin McLean, head of the Heritage Lottery Fund Scotland, said: “This project will totally rejuvenate a much-loved building, bringing it back to the heart of the community for everyone to use and enjoy.”
And he emphasised: “It demonstrates how a heritage building - while providing an important link to a community’s roots - can also be adapted for the needs of today.”
