Former Jedburgh department store in line for £1.2m facelift

Work has started to return the three-storey Port House in Exchange Street to its former glory.

The ground and first floor are to be converted into offices and meeting rooms, tenants for which have already been lined up.

The top floor is earmarked for art studios, although no tenants have yet been identified.

The work has been made possible after Jedburgh Community Trust, with support from Scottish Borders Council, received £900,000 from the Scottish Government Town Centre Regeneration Fund.

An additional £187,000 came from CARS, the town centre regeneration fund, and a number of smaller grants, including almost £5,000 from the Co-op Community Fund, took the funding pot to the region of £1.2m.

After a rigorous tender process, the contract to carry out the renovation work went to Jedburgh-based firm John Laidler and Son.

Port House, on the national at-risk register since 2011, was built in 1899 at a cost of £2,105 to house a local Co-operative Society department store.

The current 8,000sq ft building replaced a corn exchange and museum destroyed by fire in 1898.

Designed by James Pearson Alison, it was one of the first steel-framed buildings in the Borders.

The trust bought it for £150,000 in 2010 and has since spent a further £50,000 on making it weatherproof.

Les Wyse, chairman of Jedburgh Community Trust, said: “Just before 1900 there was a big fire in what they called the Corn Exchange, that building burned down, that was in Exchange Street, so then the Co-op built an office block there with a wee bit retail in it.

“All being well the work will be done by the summer of next year. The electrical contractors Scott and Foggon were the last to occupy the building in 2010. It’s nice to see scaffolding up and knowing there’s work getting done behind it.”