“We want to make sure that this iconic building is a lively presence at the beating heart of our community”

The Building

The building has served many civic purposes for the community over its 150-year history – as a Burgh council chamber, a courtroom, police station, public library, Fire Station and finally serving as a police station until it closed in 2024.

WHY SAVE IT?

We hope to save the building for the community, rather than lose it to probably high-end private use. It has 27 rooms and lends itself to meeting key community needs that will doubtless change over time. We, as a community, will be able to decide how we use it - but only if we save it first.

We need to be realistic about the challenge of saving it.

At minimum it could wash its face by meeting the huge unmet demand for those involved in or seeking to embark on work in the creative industries, and by providing office space for community organisations. As such it can help bring a lot of footfall to nearby businesses on the High Street.

If we achieve that we will be happy. However, if we can secure the funding, the building can also meet a range of other community needs.

Action Porty Aims

❖ Breathe new life into an iconic public building which has served the community for almost 150 years, creating publicly accessible spaces and safeguarding it for future generations to enjoy

❖ Provide needed facilities and meaningful opportunities for community use in a central location within our expanding community

❖ Provide a clearly different offer from other community owned or operated spaces within Portobello

❖ Bring life and activity to the building, supporting and adding to the vibrancy of the High Street in ways that are accessible to the whole community

❖ Further the purposes of “Community Wealth Building”, ensuring the project supports Fair Work, equality of opportunity, supporting the success of our local businesses and recycling any profit into community benefit

Exploring a new future

Action Porty began consulting the local community, last year, on how they would like to see it used now it has been decommissioned and is being disposed of by Police Scotland.

❖ An application has now been made to Police Scotland for the Community Asset Transfer of the building with a decision due on 1st September 2025

❖ A Stage 2 application to the Scottish Land Fund is also well advanced and due for submission in mid-August 2025. The outcome will be known in November 2025

❖ A business plan is being prepared illustrating the planned uses of the building, their viability and community need and support for them. Action Porty is keen to share these plans and seek the views of the community before they are finalised.

❖ Taking on an old, listed building is not without challenges and a variety of permissions and works will be required to deliver the end vision, so a meantime use is proposed until this can be delivered

Please take some time to have a look at the proposed initial use and planned future use and give us your views by filling in the online survey: Portobello Police Station - Exploring a new future

A phased approach

Action Porty is working on securing the funding to the purchase of the building from Police Scotland. Planning and other permissions will be required to change the use of the building to deliver the vision and the money to adapt the building needs to be raised– these are all being checked out at the moment and it is likely that the building is used as artists’ studios in the first instance to generate income while plans are prepared and money raised for more significant adaptations.

a possible model for Meantime use:

Delivering the vision

Action Porty is working with a local architect who, like the rest of the Action Porty board sub-group, is currently putting in his time for free, in order to prepare a plan for the long-term vision for the building, and this could look like the plan below, depending on what you tell us you would like to see, what funding we can secure, and what planning consents allow!

RESPoND TO OUR SURVEY!

To secure the Community Asset Transfer and potential funding from the Scottish Land Fund Action Porty needs to be able to demonstrate that the community support the proposals which have been put forward.

Please particiapte in the next phase of our consultations, by either coming along to the meeting upstairs in the library at 6pm on Wednesday 22nd July 2025, and/ or by filling in the online survey: Portobello Police Station - Exploring a new future