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Our Vision
Redevelopment of The Bank
Situated at the top of the High St, and at the gateway to the entrance to the historical area of Dunblane, we believe that Bank House is ideally located to become the geographical central focus point of the town.
Our vision is to redevelop this historic, listed building into a multi-functional, community owned and managed, arts, tourism, and events venue, named The Bank. The Bank will be made up of two core areas:
1. performance space
2. tourism & events space
Additionally, a staff area, toilets & professional kitchen will be included. We want to provide a community and family friendly space, which offers local training and employment opportunities.
The building design and overall running ethos will be focused on zero waste - through sustainable building and energy practice and then applying this to the café/restaurant management.
Through a varied offering of new events and hospitality experiences, it is hoped that The Bank will attract increased numbers of visitors and more of the local community to the town centre regularly. By drawing more people to Dunblane town centre all businesses will thrive and prosper.
The Bank's programme will be steered by a board of volunteer directors on behalf of its members - with all surplus profits being re-invested back into Dunblane. Our plans are still evolving based on local community feedback, but we have identified starting points for us to test out as we progress.
Previous community engagement was undertaken during the separate events of the Dunblane Fling & Extravaganza where the Directors had a stand and spoke to over 1000 members of the local community to publicise the project and undertake market research. The response from the community was overwhelmingly positive, with lots of suggestions and good ideas which have been taken forward and influenced key decisions made since.
Area 1 - Cinema & Music
Area 1 (the old banking hall) will be transformed into a multi-functional space designed for cinema, performance and lectures.
This part of the building will be open plan with a high ceiling and external access. The room will be sound proofed though acoustic barriers and will contain a large retractable screen, PA system and a removable stage.
Working with our partners The Macrobert Arts Centre, we envision initially running three films per week - one weekend evening film, one weekday afternoon film and a family-friendly film on a Sunday. This would be a matinee movie every Sunday to provide an opportunity for parents to enjoy some down time while their kids are watching a film in the cinema.
We hope to start with at least one music event per week, and plan to host a variety of music genres.
Talk and lectures will cover a whole variety of topics including, but not limited to, local history, sustainability, and ecological revival. We welcome all suggestions.
The space will also be open for rental by the community.
Area 2 - Cafe & Restaurant
Area 2 (the ground floor of Bank House) will be used for tourist information and will lend itself to flexible format and spacing dependent on usage. Additionally, a large glass extension on the west side of the building will provide a further seating area and some welcome sunlight. The Bank will use this space to host several events potentially providing space and provision for Local Hospitality businesses, startups, scaling businesses to run events to test and develop new propositions. These events will be designed collaboratively with the local businesses, giving opportunity to showcase The Bank as a destination and events venue, and therefore Dunblane, to a wider market.
There are plenty of opportunities here for collaborations with existing vendors through promotions and advertising, and these will be actively sought. This space will also act as a tourism information area, showcasing the amazing local attractions, and we hope that local tours will run from here.
We also hope to provide opportunities for local people to enhance skills and experience for future employment as part of our aspiration.
The space will be dog and family friendly, and this area provides a space for parents to come with their children during the day which is large enough for them to play safely. Additionally, this room will function as a bar and extra seating area during events.
Other Uses
The forecourt of the building will be utilised for farmers markets (twice per month) and outside seating for the cafe.
The building will also be hireable for private events, and although the two areas are connected, they have been designed so that they can be hired separately.
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If you have any great ideas about what else we should consider including, please subscribe and follow us on social media - we will be running campaigns to gather ideas over the next few months.