Plans for the new £12 million Scottish Crannog Centre have been submitted to Perth and Kinross Council.
The Scottish Crannog Centre Trust hopes the attraction will be "Scotland’s most sustainable museum" and will bring "many more jobs, opportunities and visitors to Highland Perthshire ".
A devastating fire in June 2021 hastened the need for the planned development on the other side of Loch Tay.
The fire destroyed the recreated Iron Age house on the shore of Loch Tay at Kenmore.
The move to a new site at Dalerb would see the creation of a new Scottish Crannog Centre. The visitor attraction would include an Iron Age village with demonstration structures, a roundhouse, a crannog (eventually three), footpaths, car park, as well as a visitor centre with a shop, exhibition, café, teaching and office space. The toilet block would be extended to include an accessible shower and centralised plant room.
Just as they have for almost three decades, visitors would learn how crannog dwellers on Loch Tay lived when they stayed there 2,500 years ago.
The current site is described as being "overwhelmed" by the expanding neighbouring marina holiday resort. The design statement submitted to Perth and Kinross Council states the move to Dalerb - directly across the water - will "allow the museum to realise its full potential on the new site".
Plans for the new centre were this month submitted to Perth and Kinross Council by LDN Architects LLP. Members of the public have until June 10 to comment on the application.
The centre's vision is to be a "national treasure admired by all, with social justice at its heart".
In a statement on the attraction's website Scottish Crannog Centre Trust chairman Nicholas Grant said: "We aim to be Scotland’s most sustainable museum, a national treasure admired by all with social justice firmly at our heart. We will be a world-class centre for learning, social action, research and education, attracting new interest from all over Britain, Ireland and beyond, honouring the story of our predecessors and the national heritage of Scotland. In full, this will be a £12m scheme leading the way in bringing many more jobs, opportunities and visitors to Highland Perthshire."
The ambitious plan is for the first phase of the development at Dalerb to be open to the public by next spring.
The Scottish Crannog Centre Trust has pledged to work with the community as it progresses with plans.
Mr Grant added: "We are fully committed to maintaining public access to the loch and picnic area at Dalerb and we look forward to working sustainably within our natural environments and considerately with everyone locally. I very much welcome your questions and your active involvement. We have an exciting time ahead of us working together to achieve these objectives and to really put Kenmore on the map of Iron Age history in Scotland!"
The planning application now lies with Perth and Kinross Council - which along with the Scottish Government and others - has already given financial backing to the development.
Mike Benson - director of the Scottish Crannog Centre - told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: "We have been humbled by all the support we have had."
