Assessment of the Scottish Weaving Centre, Castlehill

The Scottish Weaving Centre was developed with the aim of providing Edinburgh with a new visitor attraction based on the history of the Scottish weaving industry, to be located at the top of the Royal Mile at Castlehill. The building used was a former reservoir and was transformed into a working production plant with exhibition, restaurant and retail outlet, opening in October 1997. Lothian and Edinburgh Enterprise Limited (LEEL) commissioned an economic impact assessment of the Centre in November 1999.

Discussions took place with LEEL managers and the owners and managers of the Centre, working as the company GL Attractions Limited (GLA), and both of these provided relevant documentation regarding the operation of the Centre. Financial information on the operations of the whole building could not be obtained because of changes in the ownership structure. Information was gathered about employment rather than turnover.

The evaluation calculated a much higher level of displacement than that calculated by LEEL. This in turn affected the total net full-time equivalent (FTE) jobs calculated to have been created by the project, which was lower than the initial prediction by LEEL. At the time of writing, 17% of the LEEL contribution had been repaid. The cost per job depends on whether and how much of the remainder of the funding is repaid. Annual visitor numbers were estimated at 200,000; higher than expected. .

No recommendations were made.