Plan for £8m redevelopment of Highland museum

A Sutherland museum and arts venue that opened almost 40 years ago could be in line for an £8m redevelopment.

Timespan was created on a former herring curing yard at Helmsdale's harbour.

Its operators say the museum has "punched above its weight" for years, but is now too small for the exhibits and activities they want to stage.

Under the proposals, extensions would be added to provide new gallery and museum spaces.

Helmsdale, on the east Sutherland coast, was built in the early 19th Century as part of a planned resettlement for communities moved off land during the Highland Clearances.

The village later became a significant base for the herring industry, and its harbour supported fishing, gutting and curing operations.

Timespan opened in 1987 and its collections and displays reflect the history of Helmsdale and the surrounding area, including the Clearances, herring fishing and fossils found along the nearby coastline.

Two architects are working on the new plans.

Assemble - which won a Turner Prize in 2015 for its work on the redevelopment of a community in Toxteth, Liverpool - and Office Corr Higgins, which is based in Glasgow and Bristol.

Three consultations have been held on the proposals.

Timespan's bosses have still to apply for planning permission, and funds have still to be raised towards the £8m cost.

They expect it could take about five or six years to complete the project.

Fundraising and redevelopment manager, Sam Harrison, said Timespan was trying to do lots of "wonderful things" but needed some more room to do them in.

He told BBC Naidheachdan: "We are constrained by a building that the heating doesn't work very well, and the corridors are long and dark.

"What we would like to do is match up to the things we can do, and expand what we can do by having a building that allows that."