Journal - 03-11-2020:
NTS House of Dun
The National Trust for Scotland have instructed RDA Architects to lodge plans for five steading-style homes near their key Angus attraction. The heritage body has sited the houses on the former Millfield Garden Centre, close to the William Adam-designed House of Dun, near Montrose.
Planning is now lodged with Angus Council which demonstrates that the project will bring the brownfield land beside the A935 Montrose to Brechin road back into productive use and clear the visually offensive site of dilapidated and dangerous asbestos-ridden buildings.
It could also deliver an economic shot-in-the-arm for the crisis-hit body, which is facing a multi-million pound shortfall in income as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
RDA Architects can confirm that the layout has been designed to replicate agricultural steading buildings in Angus, with a centralised courtyard feel to the development. Bounded to the south by the A935, the 0.81 hectare site will require decontamination before any development can take place.
The non-intensive, low scale development of this site, in conjunction with an impressive and appropriately sympathetic, yet compliant design will ensure that the National Trust for Scotland will make a welcome and necessary use of what is a redundant and potentially, visually offensive site with dangerously dilapidated buildings posing a clear health and safety risks.
Plans were also approved earlier this year for a transformation of the mansion’s grounds to tell the story of the county, with the courtyard of the A-listed property to be converted into a space for exhibitions and costume storytelling alongside a coffee shop and retail units. It is hoped the redeveloped area will also be able to display items from the former Angus Folk Museum collection at Glamis, which was closed by the NTS in 2014 after problems were discovered with the fabric of the historic cottages.
