Arbroath Abbey Visitor Centre

Arbroath Abbey is situated in the centre of Arbroath. Founded in 1178 by William the Lion and dedicated to St Thomas of Canterbury, it was from here that the famous Declaration of Arbroath, asserting Scottish Independences, was issued.

The new visitor and interpretation centre was a joint venture between Angus Council, Scottish Enterprise Tayside and Historic Scotland. The new building had to be of architectural merit while blending well with the Abbey ruins that at one point are less than two metres away. The result is a fine building using St Bee?s sandstone and Caithness slabs to compliment the original stonework of the Abbey.

Enconsult were able to construct a computer simulation model in order to design and test natural ventilation strategies within the open exhibition areas of the centre. The model also provided data in respect to solar gains and air movement that would have an effect on the heating and ventilation and which allowed the controls to be designed accordingly.

Enconsult also designed a geothermal heating system that would have used the mass of the adjacent ground as a heat sink to provide free heating to the centre, and would have been the first scheme of its type in Scotland, however the design was not implemented due to cost constraints.

Enconsult also carried out designwork to floodlight the Abbey ruins and also rewiring and new fire detection to two other historic buildings, the Abbots House and the Gatehouse. These works required considerable liaison with Historic Scotland in order not to cause an intrusion to the historic fabric and structures of these buildings.

Project value £1,800,000

Completed June 2001