Edinburgh’s Muirhouse community on the northwest corner of the city is as full of hope, potential, pride and generosity as its reputation is for impoverishment, substance abuse and housing issues.
Project leaders and investors in the MacMillan Hub have high hopes that the under-construction cooperative will revitalise and regenerate the community, and more than 97 percent of locals support the project.
Local resident and North Edinburgh Arts (NEA) volunteer Dee Bowers said the hub is already generating a buzz and Foundation Scotland recently announced £300,000 in funding to help reach the NEA’s £4.2million goal.
Bower said: "This project is something that has been a long time coming. It’s definitely needed and I think it will help change the perception of Muirhouse. It already has a buzz about it and it’s not even built yet.
“There’s been a lot of interest from people in the community, and I hope it will help link up the community and encourage more coordination and cooperation between services and people."
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The hub is a joint project between NEA, the Edinburgh City Council and the local community.
Once completed, the hub will feature an NEA operated cafe, box office, theatre, and art studios alongside a community library, council-owned and operated children’s nursery with a capacity for 180 children and council housing.
The vision is that the new community cooperative hub will “become an anchor building creating and enhancing community life, offering services for everyone while focusing on the most disadvantaged.”
Lesley Hinds, Chair of NEA, hopes the new hub will provide existing residents with resources and access to services as well as make new residents feel part of the community.
“The only way we're going to address poverty in this area is if we actually get money in people's pockets. Most people in this area are low paid workers and what we want to do is to have an education skill centre so that we can link people to colleges and universities so that people here can have an opportunity to get well paid jobs and put money in their pocket.”
Muirhouse’s MSP representative, Alex Cole-Hamilton, was on site for the behind the scenes tour, and he was fully supportive of the NEA’s vision.
“Muirhouse is a dynamic community that has been largely overlooked for a long time. The work that Leslie and Kate have done to pull this vision together by tenacity and including the community is amazing and I’m hopeful that this hub will stand the test of time.
I can’t wait to see this hub grow and be filled with people. I think this project is going to breathe life into this community.”
MSP Cole-Hamilton explained that Muirhouse has long been one of Edinburgh’s most impoverished neighbourhoods. It also has a reputation for mental health issues, substance abuse and poor quality housing which are all linked within a vicious and complex cycle.
However, Cole-Hamilton emphasised that the hub will help the community put its reputation behind it and highlight the strengths of the neighbourhood: its pride, resilience, and generosity of spirit.
Local resident and NEA volunteer Dee Bower said:
“Here in Muirhouse, we help each other out in times of need. There have been times myself and others help a friend out by cooking a meal and taking it around to someone’s house and silly things like that. Community helps hold us all together.”
The NEA has raised 61 percent of its £4.2m goal, and it has a remaining 18 months to raise the remaining amount for completion. On Thursday, the council is set to decide whether or not to underwrite loans for the project should the NEA fall short of funding at the end of 18 months.
Foundation Scotland’s £300,000 investment has put the NEA one step closer to its goal.
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