The Stage

Edinburgh home found for Creative Scotland

Published Thursday 18 March 2010 at 14:47 by Thom Dibdin

Creative Scotland will have its main base in Edinburgh in what is expected to become a cultural hub for the city - with discussions underway to locate other arts organisations in the same premises.

Scottish ministers have given Scotland’s new cultural agency the go ahead to relocate a “modern development in the centre of Edinburgh”, although the site has not yet been publicly identified.

The agency’s chief executive and the majority of its 123 staff will be based in Edinburgh. It will also retain its Glasgow presence at the offices of what is now Scottish Screen, and “will establish a network of hot-desks with partner organisations across Scotland”, according to Ewan Brown, Chair of Creative Scotland 2009 Ltd.

While the move is subject to the City of Edinburgh Council agreeing to take over the lease of the current Scottish Arts Council offices in Manor Place, the warm welcome given by council leaders to the announcement indicates that considerations at the council’s Policy and Strategy committee next Tuesday will be a formality.

Council leader Jenny Dawe said of the new site: “A fantastic location has been identified, which will provide state-of-the-art flexible accommodation which suits Creative Scotland’s business model and allows for quick and easy access to both national and international transport links.”

The paper to be considered by the council committee includes plans for a reshuffle of council accommodation, including taking over the Manor Place lease at an annual cost of £150,000.

It states: “Suitable premises for Creative Scotland have been identified in an appropriate city centre location. Discussions are also under way which are expected to lead to several other cultural bodies taking up space in the same property creating a vibrant cultural hub in the centre of the city with excellent transport and communications links.”