Blog

Since the Friends of Craigtoun took over the running of the facilities at Craigtoun in 2013, converting the former gardener's lodge into an office space has been on the agenda. With so many other, more pressing, projects to attend to and the obvious need for substantial funds to complete this ambitious project, it has spent most of the last decade on the back burner. Once Fife Council had honoured their obligation to make the building wind and watertight, it fell to the Friends of Craigtoun to source the funds and manpower necessary to convert what was effectively a shell into a modern office space.  Work began in January 2021 but progress was slow until the summer of 2022 when the Lodge finally became a priority project and it was full steam ahead to relocate our administration team ahead of the 2023 season.  The relocation of St Andrews Men’s Shed from the Botanic Gardens to Craigtoun allowed some of their members to become increasingly involved in the project and gave our long-term volunteer, Steve, the help he needed to push it towards the finishing line.  It then fell to our winter workforce to put on the finishing touches and, come January 2023, we were ready to transfer all our office and IT equipment from the existing office to their new premises.  Work on the upstairs of the Lodge is still ongoing, but our administration staff are now operating from their new workspace.  We also now have the use of a dedicated meeting room with modern facilities, which is proving invaluable to facilitate meetings regarding the increasing number of projects taking place both in-house and with external partners.   We would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has been, and continues to be, involved in the Lodge Project and we look forward to sharing more images once the upstairs renovation has been completed.