A first-of-its kind study with radical ideas for how Paisley town centre could look in a decade has been published – and aims to start a conversation about what might be possible in the town.

The ‘Vision for Paisley Town Centre 2030’ is the result of a unique link-up between Renfrewshire Council, the Scottish Government and Scotland’s Town Partnership – and uses Paisley as a test case for a series of bold ideas imagining how empty retail space could be better used

Aileen Campbell, Scotland’s Cabinet Secretary for Communities and Local Government, officially unveiled the report at an event in the town centre today.

The study – produced by Glasgow-based Threesixty Architecture – is based on the idea changes to the way people shop have left towns like Paisley with far more retail space than they need.

 

 

 

What ideas do the authors suggest?

The authors lay out a series of radical ideas for how the town could be rebalanced to better meet community need – bringing with it new life and footfall. Their suggestions include:

– introducing hundreds of new town centre residents, including repurposing the Paisley Centre shopping centre into a new residential quarter with ground-floor retail;

– new ‘attractors’ such as a High Street cinema, or European-style food hall housing independent food and drink businesses;

– bolstering remaining retail by concentrating it back on to the High Street and street-fronts;

– new public spaces for outdoor activity, and new lanes and streets creating new views and routes to ‘hidden’ parts of the town centre

– how key vacant historic buildings such as the Liberal Club, YMCA building and TA Building could be brought back into use;

– other ideas such as shared office spaces or makers’ spaces, a new hotel, and relocating parts of university and college campuses into the heart of the town centre;

What’s already happening?

The contents of the report build on work already happening to use Paisley’s unique cultural and heritage story to transform its future through the Future Paisley programme, which aims to build on the momentum created by the town’s bid to be UK City of Culture 2021.

That includes a £100m investment in the town’s venues and outdoor spaces, including turning Paisley Museum into a world-class destination for the town’s internationally-significant collections, which last week saw £3.8m of funding confirmed from the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Paisley is already finding new uses for vacant High Street spaces – construction will start soon to bring a formerly-empty retail unit back into use as a new learning and cultural hub housing library services, for which the first images have just been revealed.

That will build on the success of Paisley: The Secret Collection – the UK’s first publicly-accessible High Street museum store, which opened in 2017 – showing Paisley’s ambitions to put culture at the heart of its future high street are already being realised.

What are people saying about it?

Cabinet Secretary Aileen Campbell said: “This study represents another significant milestone in the regeneration of Paisley and is further evidence of the ambition and commitment of the local community and partners.

“A huge opportunity now exists to use this collaborative vision to create more positive change in the town, as well as sharing learning which can benefit other town centres and communities across Scotland.

“The Scottish Government will continue to work in partnership with local government to support the regeneration of our towns and high streets.”

Renfrewshire Council leader Iain Nicolson said: “The way people shop has changed forever, and towns everywhere are seeing the same issues with empty retail space.

“We can’t turn the clock back but we can consider how we could change to attract new life and footfall in future – and that’s what Paisley is doing.

“It’s important to stress these are not concrete plans – they are a set of ideas designed to spark a conversation about what might be possible over the next decade.

“Paisley town centre is already changing for the better – the number of new cafes and restaurants and new housing built in recent years shows it is recognised as a good place to live and invest.

“Current and future council investment will make Paisley even more attractive to the private sector, but change of the scale imagined by the Vision could not be achieved by the council alone – so we want to hear from developers who could make that next stage of the journey happen.”

Colette Cardosi, chair of town centre business improvement district Paisley First, added: “In recent years, Paisley has found itself firmly back on the map with fantastic events for visitors and a growing number of independent businesses.

“However, like many towns throughout the country, we need to continuously adapt and evolve and Paisley First welcomes collaboration on any long-term strategy for the future which can help bring in new investment and new footfall to local businesses in Paisley town centre.”

Phil Prentice, chief officer of Scotland’s Towns Partnership, added: “Paisley has a rich tapestry of heritage and culture, is steeped in industry and tradition, and has many major assets.

“We hope this exciting blueprint can create a high street fit for 21st century citizens and Paisley can become an exemplar for other large towns across Scotland.”

 

Alan Anthony, managing director of Threesixty Architecture, who authored the Vision, said: “This study shows a people-first approach that reconnects the whole community to their town centre.

“We have an unprecedented opportunity to rebalance our High Street back to a place with a rich mix of uses. As a lifelong Paisley Buddy, it’s exciting to think Paisley could lead the way on town centre regeneration in Scotland.”

Brian Clark, managing director of Park Lane Developments, said: “We believe Park Lane’s partnership with Renfrewshire Council on the regeneration of the former Arnotts department store has already shown the way for how the public and private sector can work together to transform a town centre site.

“That project has already delivered 67 completed private and social rented housing along with the welcome addition of the Pendulum restaurant. The final phase is just about to go for planning and will bring an additional 70 new homes.

“The site was derelict for 10 years and is now back in beneficial use bringing new residents and activity back into the town centre – and shows the potential that exists in Paisley as a place to live and invest.”

 

The idea for a High Street cinema is already being taken forward by a local group – the Paisley Community Trust – who, with support from the council, are developing their own plans to convert an existing building for that purpose.

Gary Kerr, chair of the Paisley Community Trust, said: “”It’s exciting to see such a transformational and radical vision for Paisley’s future revealed. Paisley Community Trust fully back this new vision for Paisley and we congratulate Threesixty Architecture on producing a superb piece of work.

“It’s particularly encouraging to see cinema at the forefront of the vision. This completely aligns with our current plans to bring cinema back to the heart of our town.

“We believe a cinema by and for our community is a vital first step in realising the wider vision for regeneration in the town centre. It’s Project One if you like.

“We’ve been working behind the scenes on it for a while now and will reveal more details very soon. We also look forward to seeing the other concepts from the vision being explored and developed into regeneration projects of their own in the years ahead.”

 

How can you have a say on the ideas?

The Paisley Vision was produced after gathering feedback from key local partners – including community groups, businesses, educational establishments and private developers.

Residents and businesses have the chance to see and give their views on the Paisley Vision plans for themselves at a public exhibition open in POP (the former Post Office) in the town’s Piazza shopping centre – on Friday 24 (1 to 4.30pm), Saturday 25 (9.30am to 4.30pm) and Monday 27 January (9.30am to 3pm).

The full report can also be viewed online (link opens in a new tab), along with a Q&A which goes into more details on the ideas it contains and what happens next.

PACE Theatre Company has announced actor James McArdle as its first patron. And the announcement comes as the company reveals the location of the building which is to be transformed into a new community theatre space for Paisley.

EXCHANGE will be dedicated to promoting and developing theatre for children, young people and families; as well as promoting participation by young people through performance and creative learning opportunities.

The vacant building on Old Sneddon St in Paisley, was most recently the site of a former nightclub (Mannequins) but was built as the New Templar Hall in 1932 and has been variously used as a dance hall, cinema and telephone exchange in its lifetime.

The building will provide a home venue for PACE’s own performances (almost 200 annually) as well as hosting a programme of professional touring productions, and offering an alternative venue for Renfrewshire’s thriving community performance scene. It’s planned flexible-use spaces will also allow for a host of creative learning opportunities.

James is a former PACE Youth Theatre member and since graduating from RADA in 2010 he has garnered a string of impressive credits including title roles in James I, Platonov and Peter Gynt at the National Theatre, a Broadway transfer of Tony Kushner’s Angels in America, and as the Earl of Moray in the 2019 feature film Mary Queen of Scots.

James McArdle on being a patron of PACE

“I’ll always be grateful to PACE for the start that they gave me on my journey to becoming an actor, not just the skills I learnt when acting but how to have confidence in myself and hold my own. It is a privilege to be able support them in their ambitions.

“I have experienced first-hand that theatre has the power to be life-changing and already, it’s clear that through this building they will be able to create even more opportunities for young people and their families.

“It’s still the happiest time of my life, I felt like I had a voice and was listened to at PACE even though I was young. It taught me I had value and worth which has been a vital part in becoming an actor but also just in growing up.”

Do you know your towns from your villages, your landmarks from your listed buildings or your list of historic names and faces?

For a bit of festive fun, why not try our Renfrewshire Quiz – and tell all your friends so they can test their knowledge against you!

The award-winning Paisley Halloween Festival has scooped another top prize after it was named Best Cultural Event or Festival at the 2019/20 Scottish Thistle Awards West Scotland regional finals.

Organised by VisitScotland, the awards celebrate innovation, excellence and success in the Scottish hospitality and tourism sector.

The popular event in Renfrewshire Council’s annual calendar picked up the award for its 2018 festival, which saw crowds of over 34,000 people flock to the town across two days to enjoy an action-packed programme of spectacular aerial performances, thrilling live acts and a Mardi-Gras style parade with more than 500 costumed performers.

Inspired by the town’s dark and deathly 17th century witch history, the enhanced theme of ‘Something Wicked this Way Comes’ thrilled visitors from all over Scotland.

The festival was also one of the major events as part of VisitScotland’s Year of Young People 2018 celebrations, with young people at the heart of the festival’s development and delivery.

A 20-strong Youth Panel worked alongside Renfrewshire Council’s Events Team to design and deliver the programme, while more than 500 young people took part in a new creative learning programme. This provided young people with the opportunity to participate in all aspects of festival from performance to live event management and technical production.

Paisley Halloween Festival was among 15 winners in the Regional Finals for the West last week – including businesses and individuals from Greater Glasgow & The Clyde Valley, Ayrshire & Arran, Dumfries & Galloway and Argyll & Bute – and will now go on to the prestigious National Final on March 5, 2020.

Louisa Mahon, Renfrewshire Council’s Head of Communications, Marketing and Events, said: “We are delighted that the Paisley Halloween Festival has been recognised alongside the very best of the Scottish tourism industry at the Scottish Thistle Awards West Regional Final.

“The festival continues to grow larger and more creative each year – and is now regarded as one of the biggest and best events of its kind in the UK. It has also helped to raise Paisley’s profile and cement the town’s reputation as a place to come and see world class cultural events.

“We look forward to taking our place alongside all of the outstanding Regional Finals winners at the National Finals in March.”

Gordon Smith, VisitScotland Regional Director, said: “Congratulations to Renfrewshire Council on winning Best Cultural Event or Festival for Paisley Halloween Festival at the Scottish Thistle Awards regional finals. Taking over the streets of Paisley every Halloween, the Festival it has become one of the most hotly anticipated events in the region’s calendar, which this year welcomed record crowds and was supported by EventScotland’s National Events Fund. I wish the team the very best for the national finals in March.

“The Scottish Thistle Awards give businesses and individuals working within tourism in Scotland the opportunity to earn the recognition and appreciation they deserve from their own industry peers. They celebrate those people and businesses throughout the country responsible for offering the warmest of welcomes that Scotland is famous for.”

The Scottish Thistle Award marks a double celebration for the Paisley Halloween Festival after it won Best Festival or Outdoor Event at the EventIt E Awards in June.

The Paisley Halloween Festival is organised by Renfrewshire Council and the 2018 event was supported by the Year of Young People 2018 event fund managed by EventScotland, part of VisitScotland’s Events Directorate.

This year’s festival, which took place on Friday 25 and Saturday 26 October 2019, continued to grow with a Dark Circus theme delivered alongside internationally-acclaimed outdoor theatre specialists, Cirque Bijou, and saw the entire town centre transformed into a thrilling Halloween playground.

For more information on the Scottish Thistle Awards, visit: https://www.scottishthistleawards.co.uk/

Plans to turn Paisley Museum into a world-class destination have taken a step forward after planning permission was granted.

The Category A-listed Victorian building is being transformed into a leading European museum telling the unique stories of a town known around the world for its famous Pattern.

Members of Renfrewshire Council’s Communities, Housing and Planning Board gave the green light to planning permission for an extension and external alterations plus listed building consent – meaning work can start next year.

The reimagined museum is expected to draw audiences of 125,000 people a year – almost four times current numbers – from Scotland, the UK and abroad when it reopens in 2022.

The designs produced by AL_A – led by Stirling Prize winner Amanda Levete – include:

•  a fully-accessible entrance courtyard and dramatic red glazed entrance hall, creating a dynamic and inviting presence on the High Street and a contemporary face for the museum;
• a new wing to the west of the existing building providing step-free access through the museum to the Coats Observatory (the oldest public observatory in Scotland);
• an attractive outdoor garden, creating a new public space for the town, and opening up previously-hidden views of the observatory while reconnecting it and the museum to the town’s High Street;
• internal renovations to improve accessibility and circulation and extend the museum into the space formerly occupied by Paisley Central Library, allowing the museum to more than double the number of objects on display to 1,200;
• an interactive weaving studio keeping alive the town’s traditional textile skills;

The Paisley Museum Reimagined scheme is the flagship project within Renfrewshire Council’s £100m investment in cultural venues and outdoor spaces – designed to use the town’s internationally-significant cultural and heritage story to change its future.

The project is expected to create a £79m boost for the local economy over 30 years, with 138 jobs supported during construction, and 48.5 jobs per year through revenue and visitor spending.

It already includes Round One funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, with funding confirmed from the Scottish Government, and their Regeneration Capital Grant Fund.

Paisley Museum Reimagined Ltd has been set up as a new fundraising company to oversee the project’s fundraising strategy and capital appeal.

The project is being co-designed in partnership with the community – the project team have already worked with hundreds of local people and groups to capture and help tell their stories.

Renfrewshire’s collections are among the best in Scotland and include the world’s largest collection of Paisley shawls and pattern books, artwork from the world-renowned Glasgow Boys, one of Scotland’s best collections of studio ceramics, and a unique offering of mediaeval manuscripts dating back to before the Reformation.

The museum transformation is the flagship project within Renfrewshire Council’s £100m investment in venues and outdoor spaces aimed at using Paisley’s unique and internationally-significant cultural and heritage story to transform the area’s future.

Other current investments in Paisley include turning the town’s Victorian Town Hall into a landmark entertainment venue to preserve its place at the heart of life in the town, a new learning and cultural hub offering library services in a formerly-vacant retail unit on the town’s High St, and an extension and upgrade to the town’s Arts Centre.

Local writer Claire Casey writes about the tragic tale of Marjorie Bruce – daughter of the famous King Robert the Bruce, hero of Scotland’s Wars of Independence.

Another legend that has become associated with Paisley Abbey is the death of Princess Marjorie Bruce, who was the daughter of Robert the Bruce.

In around the time of 1315, after her long imprisonment by the English, she had married Walter the Steward, the High Steward of Scotland and a descendent of Fitz Alan, the monastery’s founder. As the legend goes, while she was heavily pregnant Marjorie had been out riding along what is now Renfrew Road.

For some reason, her horse had spooked and had thrown her to the ground. This fall is said to have caused Marjorie a fatal injury. The story continues that she was rushed to the infirmary at the monastery, where the monks saved the baby. It has been claimed that they achieved that through the first ever caesarean section to be carried out in Scotland. Even though they were supposedly able to save the baby, the monks were unable to save Marjorie and she died not long after the birth of her son, Robert Stewart.

In the legend, it has been claimed that during the caesarean, the skin to the side of the baby’s eye was nicked by the knife that had been used to carry out the crude operation. It was this cut that some believe lead to Robert’s eye being permanently disfiguring.

After David II had died without issue, Robert Stewart, the son of Marjory Bruce, went on to become the first Scottish king of the Stewart dynasty. The story of his birth has been commemorated with a cairn, which stands on the Renfrew Road, close to the Abbotsinch Retail Park.

The cairn had replaced a pillar that may have commemorated a victory against the army of Somerland in 1164. The pillar mistakenly became known as Queen Bleary’s cross, which leads to the belief that was where Marjorie had fallen, rather than it being the marker of a battlefield. It has also been suggested by Sylvia Clark that the cairn that stands on Renfrew Road, and which is meant to mark the spot where Marjory fell, owes more to local myth making than to actual history. Therefore, it has nothing to do with Marjory’s death.

Despite this memorial to Marjory, the story of her death and the birth of Robert II within the monastery’s infirmary have been called into question in recent years. It has been suggested that it seems more likely that Marjorie died while giving birth in the Stewart Castle in Renfrew, rather than in Paisley’s monastic infirmary.

Within the Abbey, there is a feature that is commonly known as Princess Marjory’s Tomb. It can be found in the Abbey’s choir. It has been constructed out of ornate, carved stone and is topped with a stone effigy of a young woman. In recent years, it has been proven to be nothing more than a memorial at best. It seems that one of the Abbey’s former ministers had managed to construct this so-called tomb with some of the remaining fragments of the Abbey’s rude screen, which he used to form the tomb’s base.

It is believed that the effigy that sites on top of the tomb was taken from a burial within the graveyard that surrounded the Abbey. Therefore, the figure that forms the effigy has nothing to do with Marjorie but is instead the memorial of a nameless woman who had been interned somewhere in the Abbey’s grounds. At one point, the tomb itself was opened and found to contain no human remains, proving beyond all doubt that it is not a tomb.

Even though doubt has been cast on Marjory dying in childbirth within the walls of Paisley’s abbey, there is a grain of true in the story. It is known that Robert II did seem to have something wrong with one of his eyes, but the actual causes for what was wrong with his eye have remained unclear. It is possible that the eye deformity that he suffered from may have been sustained through a war injury, or through some sort of eye infection.

Even though Marjorie may not have died within the walls of the monastery’s infirmary, it is known that some of the High Stewards were buried within the grounds of the monastery. It has been suggested that they were buried within the vault of the Infirmary Chapel, a theory that is based on the intriguing comments made by a Bishop Pococke when he visited the Abbey in 1760.

Sports stars of the future are being given a helping hand to achieve their dreams.

A new initiative has been launched to support aspiring athletes in Renfrewshire with free access to the first-class Renfrewshire Leisure sports facilities, discounts for physiotherapy treatment and the chance of grant funding worth up to £1,500.

The Renfrewshire Aspiring Athlete Scholarship (RAASP) is a partnership between Renfrewshire Leisure, Renfrewshire Council, University of the West of Scotland, Paisley Physiotherapy Centre and West College Scotland.

Sportsmen and women can apply for an Aspiring Athlete Leisure Card to get the benefits of the initiative and there are two different types of card.

The first is a Tier 1 card for an international athlete who has represented Scotland, or Great Britain in the past year.

And a Tier 2 card is for athletes who are part of an international training squad or a recognised high performance programme.

Successful applicants for the RAASP Scholarship Programme can receive a grant of up to £1500 for Tier 1 cardholders and £250 for Tier 2 athletes.

Athletes applying to join the programme must live in Renfrewshire and be a member of a Renfrewshire sports club. However, athletes who stay outside of Renfrewshire, but are members of a local sports club, can apply for a Tier 2 card.

He hails from Largs and, whisper it, his son plays football for local rivals Greenock Morton, but Gary Ennis’ business credentials are firmly rooted in Renfrewshire.

Hillington Innovation Park has been home to Gary’s digital training consultancy NSDesign since 2005 and Gary also represents the voice of microbusinesses on Renfrewshire’s Economic Leadership Panel.

Here, he shares his thoughts on the region’s potential.

“My educational background has nothing to do with what I’m doing now.

I actually have an architecture degree from the University of Strathclyde and was about to jump ship and do a business degree when the architecture department set up a research group looking at the internet. I said to myself there’s money to be made in this as it’s about to go boom and I’m in a nice position, learning all this geeky stuff, doing early VR, 3D modelling and building websites.

I started NSDesign in 1999 and back then it was me building websites and hassling family members and friends to pick up work. We developed into a digital agency and now my focus is on the training side, addressing the skills gap in digital, whether that’s me in schools speaking to pupils, doing Business Gateway workshops or one-to-one consultancy with companies.

A mini Scottish economy

Hillington was my preferred destination for the business as it was an innovation centre, where you were vetted to get through the door and nurtured and supported to grow. I used to joke to customers and say we’re one of the companies in Hillington that’s not a tile shop or a bathroom outfitter. In actual fact there’s a lot of great, smaller companies here. It’s a mini Scottish economy all within the boundaries of Hillington. Traditionally it was manufacturing and much like Renfrewshire it’s a place redefining itself.

I’m really proud to have been invited to contribute to the region’s economic leadership panel. Part of me sometimes feels like a bit of a fraud – I’m sitting on the panel with captains of industry and there are some multi-million-pound turnover companies, big hirers, big players and I’m the very definition of a microbusiness with less than 10 employees.

Champion the smaller business

I take it upon myself to champion the smaller business and it’s so important that smaller organisations have just as much say in the shaping of the economy. With 86% of businesses in Renfrewshire classed as microbusinesses, their importance can’t be underplayed.

I often say that if smaller businesses each hire one new member of staff then you would have zero unemployment in Scotland. It’s about realising the potential, the power and the clout of the small business.

Without the smaller business, we won’t achieve the economic growth we want. Regrettably starting up your own company is still sometimes seen as a second-place scenario where redundancy forces people to look at their options, where I believe if we encourage more entrepreneurialism, more innovation and more businesses with creative, novel, niche, bold, strong, passionate ideas then it lends itself to a more diverse economy, one which is arguably stronger and more resilient.

Creativity evolves

In Renfrewshire, we are a very industrial lot and also very creative, right back to the mills, and that shouldn’t be lost. Creativity evolves so it’s great to see initiatives such as InCube, where artists and designers are making things and getting support to help them to sell right on the high street.

Today’s consumer base, we live online so making something to sell is just the first step; being able to market it and get the awareness through e-commerce and digital marketing, the demand for these skills is huge.

My goal is to upskill people who need to get these digital capabilities in place. There’s nothing better than helping a business and seeing that lightbulb moment as they realise the potential digital can give their business.

I commend the powers that be that the region’s economic strategy is not just led by public sector and kudos to the council for bringing in industry, small business, bigger business, people like the chamber of commerce and speaking to specific sectors as it’s the ongoing discussion that allows you to steer where it goes, every day let alone every month or every year.

Beta software

The world is constantly changing – and digital is a perfect example of this – so you need a strategy that isn’t set in stone, but something adaptable which, if it’s not working you tweak it, you change it.

In the geeky digital world, we call this beta software. Some say that’s just an excuse for when something is never finished, but do you know what, everything in life is beta software and our strategy should be too.