Edinburgh's Corstorphine community centre finds permanent new home, 10 years after devastating fire

Former council office block to be bought for £1.1 million in community asset transfer

Edinburgh’s Corstorphine community centre is finally set to get a permanent new home, 10 years after the fire that destroyed its original building.

The city council will hand over former office block Westfield House in Kirk Loan to the community centre for £1.1 million in a community asset transfer. The centre has been leasing the three-storey building from the council at a peppercorn rent since last year, but will now take over ownership, which will allow it to expand its activities. The centre’s first base, Corstorphine Public Hall, was reduced to a ruin in a massive blaze in October 2013, leaving 38 community groups homeless.

The centre took temporary premises in a shop unit at 191 St John’s Road, where it operated until last year, when it had to move out for the site to be redeveloped. For a long time, the centre hoped to rebuild on the site of the public hall in Kirk Loan, but despite an insurance pay-out, prolonged fundraising and efforts to secure council funding it could not put together the necessary finance and the focus switched instead to a community asset transfer of the nearby Westfield House, which the council had vacated in 2021.

Firefighters tackle the blaze at Corstorphine Public Hall in Kirk Loan in October 2013. Picture: Sandy Irvine

Corstorphine/Murrayfield Lib Dem councillor Euan Davidson, who serves on the centre’s management committee, said the ownership transfer would be a landmark moment for the community. He said: "Everyone is ecstatic – it has been such a long time and we’re really excited about the potential. Hundreds of people every week are using the centre and this mean we can expand what goes on.”

At the moment the centre can only use the ground floor of the building because there is no lift. Cllr Davidson said: “This is going to mean we can do it up and put in a lift to give access to the other two floors.” Activities at the centre include a youth club, men’s shed, babies group, lunch club, exercise groups, a memories group working with people who have dementia, DWP advice sessions and a TSB pop-up bank. But there is also a waiting list of 20 groups looking for space.

The purchase of Westfield House is expected to be funded by £1 million from the Scottish Land Fund, set up to help communities take over buildings and land, plus some of the centre’s own resources. And the centre hopes to sell the site of the public hall to pay for a major refurbishment of the building.