"Restoring Wick's former Bridge Street Church into a safe community hub, benefiting the local community and visitors, reinvesting surplus funds into local junior sports.
LOCATION: Former Bridge Street Church, 16 Bridge Street, Wick, Caithness, KW1 4NG (Category B Listed Building)
LEAD ORGANISATION(S): Roodsafe Limited (building owner) and Rowntree Equine Therapy CIC (leaseholder, 30-year lease at peppercorn rent)
PROJECT SUMMARY:
The former Bridge Street Church, a Category B Listed building at the heart of Wick town centre, has stood largely vacant or under-utilised since ecclesiastical use ceased in 2009. Roodsafe Limited purchased the ground, first and attic floors in December 2025 with the specific intention of bringing the building back into active community use, and has granted a 30-year lease at a peppercorn rent to Rowntree Equine Therapy CIC, a not-for-profit community interest company.
The building requires significant repair and restoration works before it can be safely occupied. Independent evidence gathered to date includes:
- A Building Condition and Damages Report (23 photographs) confirming widespread poor condition, including long-term water ingress, plaster failure, render collapse and mould growth;
- A 2015 Conservation Statement, prepared in connection with an earlier change of use, documenting similar long-standing dampness issues, confirming the building's deterioration is long-standing rather than recent;
- A preliminary assessment from an independent chartered building surveyor (FRICS), identifying blocked rainwater goods and parapets, long-term water penetration, and a risk of significant timber decay requiring urgent, full investigation.
Without intervention, this prominent, architecturally significant Bridge Street building - opposite the Town Hall and within the heart of Wick's town centre - is at real risk of continued deterioration and potential loss of a key heritage asset.
COMMUNITY BENEFIT AND INVOLVEMENT:
Once restored, the building will operate as a community hub connected to Rowntree Equine Therapy CIC's services. Rowntree provides disability-focused equine therapy, offering structured interaction with horses, ponies and donkeys specifically aimed at disabled learners. Rowntree has signed a 30-year peppercorn lease for the building and is seeking funding to bring it up to a safe, habitable standard for this community use. Surplus funds generated will be reinvested into local junior sports provision in the community. Full details of Rowntree's governance are available at www.rowntreecic.org.
Caithness and the wider Highland area continue to experience the challenges of rural fragility, population sparsity and limited access to specialist disability and therapeutic services. This project would bring a prominent, currently under-used town centre building back into meaningful community use, addressing both heritage risk and a genuine gap in local service provision for disabled learners and their families.
TRANSFORMATIONAL CHANGE AND LONG-TERM BENEFIT:
The project would: (i) secure the long-term future of a significant Listed Building in Wick town centre; (ii) provide a permanent home for disability-focused equine therapy services under a secure 30-year lease; (iii) generate surplus funds for reinvestment into local junior sports provision; (iv) support wider town centre regeneration, complementing recent successful Highland regeneration projects such as the John O'Groats Mill and Old Clyne School developments; and (v) generate ongoing community and economic activity in the town centre.
PROJECT READINESS:
An independent condition survey is being commissioned, and applications for heritage funding (including the Architectural Heritage Fund) are being progressed in parallel. The project is well-placed to be ready to commence works within the required timeframe (by December 2027), subject to confirmation of funding and Listed Building Consent.
ESTIMATED PROJECT COST AND FUNDING SOUGHT: A preliminary desktop estimate for remedial works indicates a lower-end cost of approximately £188,000, with an independent chartered building surveyor since indicating this may be materially higher once a full survey (including roof and structural investigation) is carried out. We are seeking Regeneration Capital Grant Fund support to help meet the capital cost of bringing the building up to a safe, habitable standard for community use, with the precise figure to be confirmed once a full, professionally costed schedule of works is complete.
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IMG_0739.jpeg "Bridge St Church Wick")
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