Crumbling historic mansion Mavisbank House saved by £5m award

Uncertainty over ownership frustrated attempts to purchase the building by Historic Scotland.

In 2003, Mavisbank featured in the BBC’s Restoration programme, where the public voted on restoration proposals, but it lost out in the final round to Manchester’s Victoria Baths.

Two applications for lottery funding were unsuccessful, but now the Landmark Trust, a charity that rescues at-risk buildings, has secured £5.3m from the National Heritage Memorial Fund.

The fund’s panel declared it a building “of “outstanding importance to the Scottish and UK national heritage”.

Landmark Trust director Dr Anna Keay said: “This is a once-in-a-lifetime moment.

“Mavisbank has hung by little more than a thread for so long, with demolition seriously contemplated on more than one occasion.”

The money will allow the compulsory purchase of Mavisbank by the Landmark Trust and Midlothian Council, and pay for initial work to stabilise the building to prevent further decay.

A second phase planned, which will require further funding, will restore the house, and eventually adapt it for holiday accommodation to finance its upkeep, with public access and open days.