Our aim is to have a sustainable business model for the Skerryvore Shore Station at Hynish. Alan Stevenson House, Morton Boyd Hall and the Harbour area are in need of refurbishment and upgrading. We would like to redevelop them as a hospitality facility with a restaurant, bar, rooms, event space, public toilets and business hub. it would provide a viable facility for residents, the community and tourists all year round. It would provide an income stream and local permanent employment.
Description
1 We would like to refurbish Alan Stevenson House (ASH) to offer a locally inspired restaurant, bar with 6 ensuite rooms (1 disabled). We would like to upgrade the Harbour with pontoons and seating/viewpoints to take in the wonderful natural environment and encourage people to come by boat to the site in the summer months. Morton Boyd Hall (MBH) is an excellent multi purpose facility that just needs some upgrading and could complment any activities going on at the site. The site at Hynish, with its heritage and special quality of place, has the opportunity to develop its local hospitality and develop something of a Hub for the southern end of the island. Capturing tourism and events spend, alongside island/day visitor spend would provide a revenue stream.
2 The Skerryvore Shore Station was transferred to the Tiree community in January 25. The transition has taken 3 years. There are 3 income streams - Housing, Heritage and Business - that will ensure it is a sustainable community organisation going forward. We have been reviewing the use of our 20+ A listed buildings to ensure they are fit for purpose and revenue earning where possible. ASH was first rebuilt in 1990 as a hostel type accomodation for groups with special needs. it was only used for a few weeks in the summer months and was always a overhead for the charity. MBH had been used to house the exhibition/museum but originally had been rebuilt as a multi purpose hall. The harbour stands strong against the incredible tides and weather. It is a viewpoint for sealife and birds. The community when asked what they would like to see at the site in our survey and subsequent community events were clear that Business should be a priority. 84% said that they wanted a restaurant/cafe, quality accomodation and event space all year round. They also wanted the Harbour preserved. So our community mandate was clear. We have piloted the restaurant and rooms over the past 2 years and now believe that it could definately work if we had a good standard of accomodation to offer and a multi purpose space for events. We have moved the exhbition to another building to free up Morton Boyd Hall so that we have a this multi purpose facility. We will then be able to work with community groups to put on a variety of events and functions during the year. We will also be able to provide permanent employment for locals.
3 We can already see from our pilot that our community is very positive about the fact we have a local family working at ASH and have created year round employment for locals. We have trialled a number of community events over last winter and they proved to be very popular. The Tiree people just love the shore station and feel a strong sense of guardianship. The pilot has also showed us that we could have a reasonable income stream from this. We now have some facts and figures to base our projections on which gives us confidence this is the right way forward. All the buildings at Hynish need to work and complement each other to ensure the "place" is kept in alignment. The pilot has demonstrated that the restaurant/rooms/bar and events do contribute greatly to this. The project would enhance the employment opportunities; keep a family with 3 children living on Tiree as they have jobs; provide the much needed income stream to ensure sustainability; reduce running costs; make the buildings all more energy efficient and in line with our aim to lower the carbon footprint and provice a place for people and business to floutish.
4 The project will start early in 2026 and be completed by November 2026.
Location: Hynish is at the southern most tip of Tiree. It is a crofting community and was chosen by Alan Stevenson as the site to build a shore station with the sole purpose of building Skerryvore Lighthouse.
Proposed on behalf of: Hynish Trust - Screen Argyll, Aislings Kitchen, Curam, Tiree School, Tiree Community Development Trust, Tiree Community Council, Tiree Arts Enterprises, Tiree Pipe Band, Tiree Young Farmers, An Talla, Tyree Gin, Tiree Sea Tours
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