Thursday 22^nd September marked another significant milestone in the Dean Castle restoration project as CBC Stone handed the keys to the Castle back to Councillor Douglas Reid, Leader of East Ayrshire Council alongside Councillor Clare Maitland, Chair of East Ayrshire Leisure.

Councillor Douglas Reid said “This is an exciting day in what has been an extensive restoration project and the quality of the work is plain for all to see - the Castle is looking magnificent. We can’t wait to welcome visitors back into the Castle in early 2023 to admire the work that has been carried out and to enjoy the collections and rich history associated with the Castle”

Graeme Frame, Director of CBC Stone said “CBC Stone is delighted to have successfully completed the works on this prestigious project on behalf of East Ayrshire Council and East Ayrshire Leisure. It has been a real team effort between the Council, Leisure Trust, the consultants and ourselves and hopefully will be appreciated by all for generations to come”

The Castle was originally due to re-open in 2021 but due to the pandemic causing delays, it will now re-open in Spring 2023. With the re-opening only a few months away, the next stage of the project will see new display cases being installed before the meticulous job of bringing the collections back to the Castle for redisplay to begin. The installation of the new interpretation and interactives will also form the final part of the project.

East Ayrshire Council, supported by East Ayrshire Leisure, were awarded £1.5m from Heritage Lottery Fund towards the restoration and modernisation of Dean Castle. The project has a total cost of £5.2m, with funding of £500k also secured from Historic Environment Scotland, and the remainder coming from East Ayrshire Council.

Pictured above L to R:
Joe Morrison - Site Manager CBC Stone, Graeme Frame - Director of CBC Stone, Councillor Clare Maitland - Chair of East Ayrshire Leisure, Councillor Douglas Reid - Leader of East Ayrshire Council.

Pictured below L to R:
Andrew Kennedy - Head of Facility and Property Management, East Ayrshire Council, Joe Morrison - Site Manager, CBC Stone, Graeme Frame - Director of CBC Stone,Eddy Spence - Chief Executive of East Ayrshire Council, Councillor Clare Maitland - Chair of East Ayrshire Leisure, Colin Begg - Architect Wylie Shanks, Councillor Douglas Reid - Leader of East Ayrshire Council, Anneke Freel - Chief Officer of East Ayrshire Leisure, Craig Provan - Project Manager, East Ayrshire Council