Images of Inverness Castle’s current interior have been made available for public viewing as early works progress towards its three year transformation into a major tourist attraction.
A two minute ‘fly-through’ film can be viewed at ‘Spirit of the Highlands’, a temporary web portal to be launched next Friday for the public to keep up to date with the project.
The footage shows the two court rooms, offices, cells and other spaces within the castle, which was in use as a sheriff court until the Inverness Justice Centre opened at the end of March.
Film company HCVF will capture the transformation stage by stage, releasing updates for public viewing.
The transformation of Inverness Castle is a Highland Council project, managed by High Life Highland on behalf of the council.
High Life Highland’s head of business Fiona Hampton said the first footage allows the public to see the interior of the castle for the first time.
“We were due to have an open day in May, which had to be cancelled due to lockdown.
“Most people won’t ever have seen the interior of the castle, so this footage lets them see what it’s like now, at the start of the long process, with more updates at each stage.”
Meanwhile, final measurements will be taken next week for the hoardings surrounding the castle during the transformation, and the heritage-based designs will be applied thereafter, in a process expected to take a further fortnight.
QR codes on the hoarding designs will link to the portal for more information.
Design work continues on the exterior landscaping of the building.
Architects LDN of Elgin are working with multiple partners on the materials to be used in the landscaping.
A stone and concrete mix is being researched to replicate as far as possible the red stone of the castle in new walls for the grounds.
City councillors were shown the footage at their regular committee meeting yesterday and given an update on progress of the project.
Councillor Emma Knox asked for an assurance that there would be full mobility access in the buildings.
Stuart MacKellar of LDN Architects said there will be two new lifts, internal ramps, corridors widened and fully compliant designs for the exterior approaches.
Designs for the castle interior are not yet complete, but under the banner of ‘Spirit of the Highlands’ will involve 100 stories about the castle, and include around 360 commissions for local artists, funded by £150,000 from Creative Scotland.
Full public and community engagement will prompt the stories, Fiona Hampton told councillors, with the full participation of professional partners such as the V&A in the interpretation.
Council leader councillor Margaret Davidson said: “This is a real quality project, with quality ideas.”
Highland Council project manager Jason Kelman said issues around the pandemic meant that the start of the work, planned for May next year, faced an eight week delay, but he was confident the time would be made up.
