Work begins on Twechar Outdoor Pursuits Centre

Work is beginning on a base for adventure, learning and community activities for people of all ages.

Twechar Outdoor Pursuits Centre will soon start to take shape on a site beside the Forth and Clyde Canal – providing a hub for canoeing, kayaking, cycling and more in East Dunbartonshire.

It will also provide a facility for new educational, training and voluntary opportunities – helping to promote regeneration and address disadvantage in the area.

East Dunbartonshire Council has secured significant external support – including funding from the Scottish Government's Regeneration Capital Grant Fund, sportscotland and others.

Preparatory works are currently taking place to establish the site – led by main contractor Morgan Sindall – and the project will get fully underway in the coming weeks.

Work has taken place with Twechar Community Action (TCA), which manages Twechar Healthy Living & Enterprise Centre and has been central to the transformation of Twechar over two decades.

A marketing exercise was undertaken during the summer of 2021 which concluded with TCA being identified as the proposed tenant.

The project, delivered through SCAPE Scotland Frameworks, was granted planning approval in March and is part of the Council's Capital Programme for 2024/2025.

The development site is owned by the Council and sits adjacent to the Forth and Clyde Canal, just off Main Street – at the northern entrance to Twechar. The project is expected to cost just over £5.6 million – more than half of which will be externally funded.

The Council is working with a number of partners on the project:

• Morgan Sindall Construction – the main contractor, appointed using the SCAPE Scotland Construction Framework.
  
• AtkinsRéalis – project management, appointed using the SCAPE Scotland Consultancy Framework.