Campaigners fighting to save a historic Aberdeen pool will propose their plans for the building’s salvation to Aberdeen City Council next week.
Passionate campaigners from the Save the Bon Accord Baths campaign will meet with council officials and detail their intentions for the 78-year-old art deco baths on Thursday.
Head of organisation and strategy for the campaign, Craig Adams, said: “We’ll put to the council what our terms are going to be because we want to move fast, we don’t want to dance around. We have got this massive, massive public support.”
The group hope to establish themselves as a charity named Bon Accord Heritage, and will seek a partnership with the council in the form of a lease and insurance for the building.
Their future aim is to raise in excess of £5million in repair grants to restore and renovate the Justice Mill Lane property, bringing them up to working condition for use by the general public.
Bon Accord Heritage would be set up as a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation (SCIO), however, in order to achieve this, they will need council support.
Mr Adams said: “To set up the SCIO we’d have to have a lease in place with the council, and without the SCIO we couldn’t apply for funding. We couldn’t receive any funding until the lease is in place.
“We’re going to go and ask for a long lease and we want a nominal rent.”
They are set to request a lease with a five year “break point” from the council, and insurance cover from them for the same time period, while they work to renovate the building and secure large-scale grants.
As a SCIO charity, members of the public will also be able to help restore the baths by becoming a member of Bon Accord Heritage.
Funds generated through a membership fee would then go towards the upkeep of the Bon Accord Baths, which has lain unused since 2008.
The Save the Bon Accord Baths social network campaign has generated nearly 11,000 followers, and almost 2,400 signatures through an online petition.
The group has started applying for small grants to fund feasibility studies on the building, but will be unable to use the funds until registered as a SCIO.
Mr Adams said: “The funding we apply for just now we’re not going to receive that until the SCIO is created.”