UK Shared Prosperity Fund

Newcastleton and District Community Trust were funded £284,000 towards their project 'Holm Hill Active Leisure'. Phase 1 of their project seeks to support the overall development of Holm Hill by providing new facilities, utilising their natural capital to enhance their established positioning as a cycling, walking, outdoor destination off the beaten track, a refreshed approach incorporating more than Mountain Biking.

Scottish Cycling were funded £242,798 for their project 'Leading the Way: Creating the European Capital for Mountain Biking'. Funding is sought to take forward further development and implementation of capital projects. Specifically, The Borderlands MTB Project, a refresh of the 7Stanes, and the Glentress Masterplan.

The Trimontium Trust were awarded £57,861 for their project 'Trimontium Museum Historical Archaeological Landscape Observatory (HALO) - A Living Museum for Future Generations'. HALO completes the vision for upgrading the facilities at Trimontium. The learning space and activities offered through HALO will connect community and visitors to this unique landscape and encourage exploration and understanding of the history of the area and the effects of human impact on the landscape. The facilities in the HALO Lab extension will also offer an immersive 3D experience of the fort at Trimontium and the wider Iron Age landscape. This will be achieved by means of VR headset technology incorporating aerial footage, 3D reconstructions and ‘live action’.

A Heart for Duns were awarded £41,940 for their project 'AHFD Development Planning'. This project aims to restart and refresh their community consultation and management process that targeted the complete redevelopment of the Volunteer Hall site.

Tweed Forum were funded £149,755 for their project 'Destination Tweed'. This project, in collaboration with ourselves, works towards the development and creation of a 113-mile trail from Moffat, past the source of the Tweed nearby and on to Berwick upon Tweed where the river meets the sea.

Archaeology Scotland were funded £83,604 for their project 'The Place to Be: 12 Towers, Adopt-a-Monument & Attainment through Archaeology'. The group are developing on their pilot project which provided skill development for young people through archaeological digs and workshops and attainment through Archaeology courses.

Southern Uplands Partnership were funded £120,539 for their project 'Energy Efficient Support Chain'. The Borders Construction Forum (BCF) was established to bring together stakeholders to address issues and agree priorities around net zero construction. This funding will support the vital coordination of this forum.

Re-Tweed were funded £79,514 for their project 'International Tartans'. With this funding, the group will support their core costs in delivering advanced tailoring training to women and young people, giving them the skills to take-up fair work in heritage, craft and tailoring roles with us and with others in the textiles industry across the South.

Oxton War Memorial Hall were funded £60,000.00 for their project 'Oxton War Memorial Hall Centenary Project'. This supports the shortfall in funding for the development of a modern Village Hub based round the existing hall to include new toilets with disabled access, a catering kitchen, improved storage space, a permanent home for the community owned and run village shop.

Capital City Partnership were funded for four projects:

• Capital City Partnership were funded £51,000.00 for their project 'Climate Risk Assessment Opportunity'. The project will deliver a climate risk and opportunity assessment for the Scottish Borders element of a wider City Region Deal plan.
• Capital City Partnership were also funded £18,776.00 for their project 'Net Zero Accelerator Hub (NZAH)'. This project is for a feasibility study to support the future development of the Net Zero Accelerator activity. Scottish Borders can then use the feasibility study recommendations and outcomes to understand future needs in their area and accurately inform future spend in the borders.
• Capital City Partnership has been awarded £30,834 to undertake feasibility work in partnership with Scottish Borders Council and five other local authority areas which will research and collect data to improve cycling, cultural and cruise tourism potential across all six local authority areas. This has potential to improve income generation for local businesses across the Scottish Borders.
• Capital City Partnership was awarded £20,000 to take forward a Regional Energy Masterplan covering the areas of Edinburgh City, Fife, West Lothian, East Lothian, Scottish Borders and Midlothian.   Data sharing agreements, regional GIS mapping, skills research and archetype classification will be undertaken to develop a regional heat masterplan to transform affordable energy systems for all and encourage employment opportunities in the net zero industries.

Gunsgreen House Trust were awarded £45,000.00 for their project 'Gunsgreen – A New Future'. This funding supports the appointment of a dedicated project management/fundraising company to undertake the task of raising funds and delivering on their development project.

The Haining were funded £287,000.00 for their project 'West Wing Development Phase'. This funding will support the renovation of the house to bring it back into full public use. Specifically, this funding will support a new the new annexe that will not only provide the entrance to the building but also houses the new kitchen space, lift and toilets as well as providing a direct link into the marquee which gives full disabled access to all areas of the house and the event suite.

Borders College were funded for four projects:

• Borders College were funded £530,400 for their project 'Retrofit & Green Skills'. This funding supports their Green Skills & Retrofit programme to drive skills as well as demand in the supply chain to deliver on Net Zero targets.
• Borders College were awarded £95,130 for their project 'Employability – developing skills for employment'. This funding will support 4 different courses across the region each year to support individuals into employment.
• Borders College were awarded £50,000.00 for their project 'Land based campus development – Phase 1: Business Case'. The aim of the project is to produce a business case which includes a scoping exercise to identify the full needs of a future Land-based campus including possible increased partnership working with Higher Education partners.
• Borders College were awarded £79,031.25 for their project 'Advancing Business Innovation in the Scottish Borders'. This project aims to use legacy equipment, i.e. 3D printers, hand held scanner, thermal imaging equipment and universal cobots, and enable training and development for businesses, upskilling and reskilling staff and to support businesses to develop new products and processes.

Scottish Borders Chamber of Commerce were awarded £108,761 for their project 'Member Network Support & Promotion'. Funding will support the recruitment of 1.5 FTE employees to undertake additional activities on behalf of members.

South of Scotland Enterprise, in partnership with ourselves, were awarded £123,000.00 for their project 'Hawick Enterprise Centre - Business Accelerator Programme'. This project will furnish and fit-out an exciting newbuild facility situated in the former Almstrong’s Department Store. This will be useable space for local businesses to reach their potential and for use by the wider community for meetings and events. The funding will also support SoSE to run an accelerator programme pilot to develop entrepreneurs across the region and provide the support they need to grow.

South of Scotland Enterprise has also been successful in securing £190,000 to deliver a programme of entrepreneurship skills development and activities for women in enterprise and youth led enterprise which will build capacity for growth of more local businesses currently under-represented.

Eyemouth Harbour Trust has been awarded £95,000 towards feasibility work required to take it through Stage 2 of Scottish Government’s Structural Investment Model. This could provide the opportunity to attract large scale development funding for Eyemouth Harbour to become a strategically important port for fishing, leisure and commercial marine traffic, in turn boosting income potential for local businesses in the area.

A Heart for Duns has been awarded £112,200 for their project ‘Borders Greenway:  Chirnside to Reston Active Travel Route’ This funding will towards design, survey and engagement work towards creation of a walking/cycling/horse riding pathway between Chirnside and Reston.   This will provide a safe active travel route for rural communities in Berwickshire as well as provide an alternative route to Reston train station.  The route will form part of a larger active travel route planned between Tweedbank and Reston rail stations.

The Hub Innerleithen CIC has been successful in securing £20,000 for their project ‘Keeping It Clean’.  This project will provide revenue funding to set up the management/future maintenance of a toilet/shower and bike wash facility following refurbishment of the disused toilets at Innerleithen.  This will provide a community asset for the use of the local community and mountain biking visitors to the area.  The project will also look at automated payment systems etc to effect sustainability of the facility for the future.

Borders Community Action has been awarded £186,000 for their project ‘Village Halls Net Zero Project’.  This funding will provide grant assistance to take forward net zero upgrades for 16 Village Halls who developed Decarbonisation Plans as part of a former Community Renewal Fund project.  The project will also provide funding for some digital infrastructure and Energy Audits for a further 8 halls.  This will provide some capital funding to transition community buildings to meet net zero targets.

At Birkhill House CIC secured £74,621 for their project ‘Fleece & Fibre Hub’.  This will provide capital funding to create a green fibre hub using sustainable materials/energy sources to reduce the carbon footprint and extend workshop activities in traditional dyeing, spinning skills development.  This will extend the practical skills offer for individuals, community groups and schools across the area.

Live Borders was awarded £27,272 for their project ‘GladstoneGo & Gladstone Pay’ to improve the booking/payment experience for leisure users which has been found not fit for purpose as part of a public consultation and review of service.  Modernisation of the existing system will provide a better service for the local community and visitors to the area to increase booking potential and better support facility usage.

Scottish Historic Buildings Trust has been awarded £31,990 to test out an operating model that will embed traditional construction skills training in the local area.The focus will be to restore and regenerate historical buildings using a local skilled taskforce, informing a pilot project on site using several historic buildings to develop and train individuals locally.

Codebase Ltd has been successful in securing £50,000 revenue funding to train up 20 senior leaders in artificial intelligence across the area. This will assist businesses in increasing productivity and digital inclusion to foster rapid business growth. Leaders will be trained in the engineering, manufacturing, energy, creative, biomedical, life science, medtech and agritech fields

Our Projects

Borderlands Community Place Plans & Town Investment Plans was awarded £120,000 provide consultancy support for Borderlands communities to develop Local Place Plans (LPP) and Town Investments Plans (TIP) drawing down from the Place Making Consultancy Framework.

Community Led Place Plans Support was awarded £180,000 to allow communities to access support, e.g. consultancy/facilitator/mentor to identify their capacity to develop Place Plans for their community.

Regional Home Demonstrator. This project was awarded £30,000 for the regional housing programme (Regional Home Demonstrator) which aims to accelerate the delivery of affordable housing and housing across all tenures, enable the development of seven major strategic housing sites in Edinburgh and South East Scotland, and drive efficiencies across the public sector estate. The project will support partners to address current and future challenges including design and performance standards for net zero homes, enable greater use of off-site construction, and facilitate more collaborative approaches to procurement and delivery to drive both cost and carbon efficiencies.

Employment Support Worker - Family Firm' was awarded £29,070.50 to support the employment of an Employment Support Worker to deliver a programme designed to prepare Care Experienced Young People CEYP for employment through employability training and access into employment opportunities.

Employment Support Worker - Project SEARCH, was awarded £34,723 to support the employment of an Employment Support Worker to deliver a one-year internship for young people (16 – 29) with additional needs such as a learning disability or autism.

Employment Training Delivery was awarded £67,204.50 for the salaries for two additional trainers to cover increased demand for No One Left Behind services.

Developing Enterprise Infrastructure – Land at Duns Industrial Estate' in partnership with South of Scotland Enterprise. This project was awarded £456,000.00 to support an infrastructure project to create 2.3 acres of usable levelled business land, and the road also gives access to a further site of more than an acre at Duns Industrial Estate.

Community Food Growing Space' in partnership with Abundant Borders  was awarded £20,108.00 to develop a community food growing space on a former play park site in Orchard Park, Kelso.

Rural Taxi-bus Pilot Project was awarded £75,000.00 to build on the taxi-bus model and pilot this service in rural areas around Selkirk, Jedburgh and Newcastleton.

Scottish Borders Council (Inspire) was awarded £61,926 for their project “Scottish Borders E-Sports Skills Academy & League” which will develop skills learning via alternative method (E-Sports) for  young people, especially those hard to reach and who have difficulty engaging through normal educational methods or are  physically unable to take part in team sports.  Participants will gain skills in digital literacy, team working, strategic thinking, problem solving, communication, event organisation and graphic design.  It will also highlight alternative career paths in the sporting/events environment.