Competition: Am Fasgadh, Kingussie

The conservation architect-led design team chosen for the estimated £350,000 contract will review an existing masterplan and draw up phased plans to restore and convert the Am Fasgadh site, which housed the Highland Folk Museum until four years ago.

The project, planned to complete in 2022, will transform two deteriorating historic buildings on Duke Street (pictured) – MacRobert House and Pitmain Lodge – into a new tourist attraction promoting local culture, heritage and crafts. 

According to the brief: ‘ARC is tendering for design team services to take the project forward, initially to RIBA stage 3 and to undertake the design and preparation of information to support the submission of a Round 2 application to the HLF. There will be a break clause at RIBA stage 3 and progression to conclusion of the building contract will be dependent on funding being secured.

‘ARC is seeking a multidisciplinary design team, led by an architect working in close partnership with a landscape architect, with a site-responsive way of working, and an innovative approach to the regeneration of this historic site in Kingussie. The team should also include your nominations for a quantity surveyor, structural engineer, services engineer, interior designer and CDM co-ordinator.’

Kingussie is a small settlement of around 1,400 people, 68km south of Inverness and close to the popular Aviemore winter sports resort. The planned town was created by the Duke of Gordon at the end of the 18th century.

Pitmain Lodge is thought to be an estate lodge which pre-dated the creation of the new settlement while MacRobert House is an early 19th-century home which may have been created by amalgamating an existing terrace.

The two buildings were home to the Highland Folk Museum – also known as Am Fasgadh which means ‘The Shelter’ in Gaelic – until its move to new premises in nearby Newtonmore, designed by Marc Kilkenny Architects.

Bidders for the latest project must have professional indemnity insurance of £5 million and public liability insurance cover worth £10 million.

The deadline for applications is midday, 19 March.