16 March 2006

 

CAITHNESS HORIZONS PROJECT WORK STARTS

 

With the Thurso Town Hall now closed to allow the refurbishment to begin, the enabling work for the Caithness Horizons project is scheduled to start very soon. 

 

The contents of the main building and the artefacts from Thurso Museum have been safely packed up and transferred to an off-site store, and cataloguing the collection will begin shortly. The Caithness Horizons Collections Trust, a charity recently established to preserve and safeguard the exhibits belonging to the three founding partners, has held its first meeting. 

 

The Collections Trust comprises Cllr Tom Jackson for Highland Council, Alan McIvor for Thurso Heritage Society and Alistair Fraser for UKAEA.  The inaugural meeting of the project working group has also been arranged and a project planner has been appointed by Caithness Horizons, to work alongside the Highland Council project team during the building refurbishment.

 

Paul Cariss, Caithness Horizons Chairman, said: “The construction phase of the project will generate employment locally and Caithness Horizons will create several new jobs and will benefit the local economy as a result of the additional visitors we hope to attract to the area. With the preparatory work well underway, this signifies immediate progress for this exciting £3.5m project to restore a much loved civic building to its former glory in order to create a high quality facility for the local area and visitors.

 

Paul Cariss went on to add: “The project team are totally committed to this project and Caithness Horizons is looking forward to welcoming everyone back into the refurbished facility in the spring of 2008.  There is a lot of hard work ahead, but the long-term benefit to the Northern Highlands as a result of this project will have a lasting effect on the future of our local community. A memory book containing comments to commemorate the old-look Town Hall was launched for the Town Hall open day on 12th February, and remains open to the public.  Entries can be made by calling into the Highland Council Service Point in Thurso.

 

Information regarding the building refurbishment and the project’s progress will be regularly updated on the Caithness Horizons website at: http://caithnesshorizons.co.uk/