Leith Theatre building renewal architect, performance venue and cultural hub news, Ferry Road Back to Life project images

Leith Theatre Building Renewal

25 November 2025

Leith Theatre appoints Holmes Miller as lead architect for major heritage project

Design: Holmes Miller

Tuesday 25th of November 2025 – Leith Theatre has appointed Holmes Miller as the lead architect for its transformational Back to Life: the theatre that isn’t just a theatre project. This marks an exciting early milestone within the organisation’s National Lottery Heritage Fund-supported development phase, following a rigorous tender process to secure the right expertise to help shape the future of one of Leith’s most significant heritage assets.

photo : Ryan Buchanan

Holmes Miller Statement:

Leith Theatre performance venue and cultural hub

Holmes Miller is delighted to announce our appointment as lead architect for the transformation of the much-loved Leith Theatre in Edinburgh. The aim is to transform the building into a leading mid-sized performance venue and cultural hub, focused on live music, but offering a wide range of other exciting activities.

We are proud to collaborate with the following design team partners:

• Narro Associates – Structural & Civil Engineers

• Hawthorne Boyle – Services Engineers

• Doig & Smith – Quantity Surveyors

• with additional support from New Acoustics and Charcoal Blue.

photo : Ritchie Elder

Architect Steven Coulson had the following to say about this exciting project;

“Firstly, it is a genuine pleasure to be able to work with a client team who so obviously love and respect the Leith Theatre building. The Leith Theatre Trust hold a core value to maintain the heritage integrity and beauty of the existing 1932 building. This respect for history is balanced against a highly aspirational and inspiring client brief, which aims not just to refurbish the Theatre, but to reinvent it.

As architects, we relish the opportunity to breathe new life into a meaningful cultural and community landmark. I personally am excited about making a building fit for everyone. This will include breaking down barriers to attendance – physical, accessibility, psychological or status, so that we can reunite this
remarkable building, originally gifted to the people of Leith, back to the whole community.”

Homes Miller will bring to bear experience gained on successful heritage refurbishments of Paisley Town Hall and Watford Town Hall, both of which are performing arts venues of significant historic and cultural value. Our team have experience in unlocking the potential in rigid Classical building layouts, so we are confident we can rise to the challenge of injecting some much needed flexibility and innovation into the Leith Theatre building.

photo : Gaelle Beri

Our technical approach to this project is twofold:
Sensitive Conservation: we plan to focus on a sensitive approach, studying and understanding the heritage language of the building so that new interventions can be complimentary and appropriate. We will not seek to preserve every part of the existing building as a static artefact. We will analyse each part of the building to identify the significant elements that contribute to the building’s allure, while areas of lesser value can be explored as potential avenues for positive change.

Sustainable Design: we are also committed to the principles of delivering sustainable architecture. For us sustainable building design is good sense, an aspiration to build to the highest quality possible, with maximum environmental, social and economic benefit. So, it is of importance to us that we undertake a fabric-first approach to analyse and improve the building energy use.

Our vision is to celebrate the theatre’s unique heritage while creating a vibrant, welcoming and accessible space for everyone. By combining restoration with creativity, we aim to ensure Leith Theatre once again thrives as a dynamic live venue.
The vision is clear; “Back to Life: The Theatre that isn’t just a Theatre.”

photo : Ryan Buchanan

Closing Note

With Holmes Miller now appointed, Leith Theatre moves into the next stage of its National Lottery Heritage Fund-supported development phase. The organisation will continue working closely with its newly formed design team and project manager throughout 2026, building the detailed plans and evidence required to progress towards the Delivery Phase. Leith Theatre looks forward to sharing further updates as the project evolves and invites its community, partners and supporters to join them on this exciting journey to bring the building back to life.

Quotes

Lynn Morrison, Chief Executive from Leith Theatre Trust, said: “Holmes Miller joining us as our Architect Design Team feels like the start of a new chapter in a story that has taken decades to reach this point.

Leith Theatre means so much to so many people, and carrying the responsibility for its future is something we feel deeply. I am pleased to welcome Steven and the wider Holmes Miller team as we begin the detailed work required to bring Leith Theatre back into permanent use.

Their expertise will help us find practical, sensitive solutions for a building that presents both enormous character and real challenges. This marks the start of a steady, thoughtful revival that will allow this treasured venue to take its place once again in Leith’s community and Edinburgh’s wider cultural landscape.”

Bob Last, Leith Theatre Trust Board Chair, said: “I am excited that Holmes Miller are bringing their architectural imagination and experience to Leith Theatre, helping the Trust articulate a future for the building and its audiences and community that is forward looking but infused with the deeply personal meanings the building has acquired over generations of use.”

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Lease Security

Leith Theatre recently secured a 50-year lease from the City of Edinburgh Council securing the future of this much-loved building. This achievement was the culmination of a 20-year campaign. The Trust received committee approval at City of Edinburgh Council’s Finance and Resource Committee in September 2023, and after 17 months a long-term lease was agreed. The trust has been working towards securing a long-term lease as a primary objective to be able to unlock future opportunities for the building. Now investment ready, the lease is essential to allow further funding to be sought.

photo : Ryan Buchanan

Leith Theatre

Leith Theatre is part of a wider complex gifted to the people of Leith by the City of Edinburgh after the amalgamation of the two in 1920. Opened in 1932, the complex also includes Leith Library, the Thomas Morton Hall and a small Gatehouse. The complex, designed by Bolton’s oldest architectural practice Bradshaw Gass & Hope, reflects the civic pride and ambition of the inter-war period.

This impressive building has seen both joyous celebration and darkest moments; hit by a bomb in 1941, it took 20 years to be repaired, only to be closed again in the 80s to save costs. The Trust took over in 2016 following lengthy community campaigning to save the building from private development and are now working to secure capital investment to ensure that this glorious semi-derelict building and important cultural asset is available and protected for future generations.

It is a building with a strong music legacy, having played host to the likes of AC/DC, Kraftwerk and Thin Lizzy during the 70s; and opera, theatre and ballet through the 60-80s as part of the Edinburgh International Festival (EIF), before suffering a significant period of closure of nearly 30 years until 2016. Between 2018-2021, further collaboration with EIF and the Hidden Door festival brought 1500 capacity audiences back through the doors on a temporary pop-up basis, and great music has returned to the stage, including The Snuts, Young Fathers, Neneh Cherry, Mogwai and many more; reigniting the need for such a mid-sized music venue in Edinburgh.

Leith Theatre sits in the heart of an area currently undergoing significant redevelopment and regeneration. It connects the north of the city with Edinburgh’s centre, can be accessed via the new tram network and will be able to house innovative cultural and community programme within an important heritage building. Despite its poor condition, in recent years it has shown its significance as a vitally important space for community driven initiatives, culture and wellbeing; a unique place in the City of Edinburgh combining social and cultural value of scale.

photo : Paul Hollingwood

The National Lottery Heritage Fund

*Grant applications over £250,000 are assessed in two rounds. Leith Theatre has initially been granted round one development funding of £247,947 from The National Lottery Heritage Fund, allowing it to progress with its plans. Detailed proposals are then considered by the Heritage Fund at second round, where a final decision is made on the full funding award of £4.5m.

Our vision is for heritage to be valued, cared for and sustained for everyone, now and in the future. That’s why as the largest funder for the UK’s heritage we are dedicated to supporting projects that connect people and communities to heritage, as set out in our strategic plan, Heritage 2033. Heritage can be anything from the past that people value and want to pass on to future generations. We believe in the power of heritage to ignite the imagination, offer joy and inspiration, and to build pride in place and connection to the past.

Over the next 10 years, we aim to invest £3.6billion raised for good causes by National Lottery players to make a decisive difference for people, places and communities.

heritagefund.org.uk
Follow @HeritageFundUK on Twitter/X, Facebook and Instagram and use #NationalLottery #HeritageFund

www.leiththeatre.co.uk
Follow @LeithTheatre on Twitter/X, Bluesky, Facebook and Instagram

Leith Theatre building: performance venue and cultural hub images / information received 241125

Previously on Edinburgh Architecture:

5 November 2023