Lock 16 - Scotland's Centre of Excellence for Canals & Traditional Skills
This place-based regeneration project will see the vacant and underutilised site of the former AG Barr Factory in Camelon, Falkirk, transformed into a new low-carbon facility on the banks of the Forth & Clyde Canal.
Since 2018, Scottish Canals has been working to regenerate the site, with initial works completed in 2020, including re-roofing and recladding three warehouses to ensure they are wind and watertight.
Lock 16 - Scotland's Centre of Excellence for Canals & Traditional Skills will revitalise a neglected area of the Forth & Clyde Canal into a thriving waterside centre focussed on community (volunteering), heritage skills, training and local employment.
It will provide the necessary facilities for canal-based innovation, pioneering canal management and maintenance, while providing training/meeting spaces as well as supporting facilities for partners and local employment opportunities.
The centre will look to address some of the growing challenges of sustaining Scotland’s historic environment by supporting the development of specialist skills critical for its future.
Scottish Canals will partner with Historic Environment Scotland (HES) to create a national centre dedicated to the development and delivery of high-quality accredited and non-accredited traditional and heritage skills training. Both organisations working together will ensure that Scotland’s castles, aqueducts, forts and canals continue to be protected and cared for.
Lock 16 will complement the expertise based at the Engine Shed, Scotland’s dedicated building conservation centre (HES Skills Training Centre, in Stirling opened in 2017) by expanding training capacity and enhancing skills development.
The multi-million pound project will support workplace learning and apprenticeship training programmes, ensuring that organisations have the workforce and skills in the future to safeguard Scotland’s unique heritage infrastructure for all of Scotland to enjoy.
The campus will foster new opportunities for school engagement and volunteer participation. Once in operation Lock 16 will create a volunteer hub for the local community seeking to connect with and care for the Forth & Clyde and Union canals.
The project is funded by the Falkirk and Grangemouth Growth Deal, National Lottery Heritage Fund, Regeneration Capital Grant Fund (RCGF), Scottish Canals and Historic Environment Scotland.
