Built in the 1850s Tower Mill is a Category A listed former spinning mill in the centre of Hawick standing on a single stone arch which spans Slitrig Water. By 1998 Tower Mill was in a significant state of disrepair and the Council acquired the freehold for a nominal sum of £1.00. The Council carried out essential repairs in response to concerns from Building Control about public safety, and to arrest the building's physical decline. However, many people in Hawick were of the view that Tower Mill was nothing more than a blight on the town due to its dilapidated appearance and obvious state of disrepair, and a petition was raised which called for Tower Mill's demolition. The Council responded to the petition with plans to renovate the building and bring it back into beneficial use, beginning a ten year transformational programme which has seen Tower Mill take centre stage as part of the wider "Heart of Hawick Townscape Heritage Initiative" (THI).

After the Council received a petition from the community to demolish Tower Mill the Council resolved to renovate the building, bring it back into positive use and increase the footfall and vibrancy in the very heart of the outstanding conservation area. At the time the textile industry in the Borders as a whole and Hawick in particular, was suffering a decline and the project aimed to provide an economic boost to the town. The planning and education departments of the Council worked together to take the project forward. From the start the Council realised that community buy in was essential if the project was to be a success. A community working group was set up consisting of representatives from the local community, and working with the Council they came up with a development plan for Tower Mill and the surrounding area, deciding that the regeneration should take a cultural led approach. The development plan also established future uses for Tower Mill identifying that the building had enough capacity to accommodate business space for creative industries, a theatre/cinema, a tourist information centre and a coffee shop. The coffee shop was identified as an important part of the project, which would allow the building to be open all day and until late in the evening, making the building as accessible to the public as possible.

The Council were also at the time in need of relocating their archives to a more appropriate building that was better resourced and more accessible for the community. It was considered that the project would provide a perfect opportunity to realise the development of this new facility and a vacant building adjacent to Tower Mill, the old Marina function suite and cinema, seemed to be the ideal location for a Heritage Hub. The Council secured £1.4m from the Heritage Lottery Fund towards the development of the Heritage Hub which provides the community of Hawick with access to records relating to census information, land ownership from the 16th century and local business records.

In 1998 the Townscape Heritage Initiative was launched by the Heritage Lottery Fund with a budget of £60m, providing grant funding for the regeneration of the historic built environment of towns and cities across the UK. The aim of the initiative is to increase the standard of conservation in urban areas which are experiencing urban decay as a result of losing their traditional economic base. The Council managed to successfully secure £0.7m worth of grant funding in (2001) towards the regeneration of Tower Mill and the surrounding area, and the project was titled “Heart of Hawick Townscape Heritage Initiative”, with the stipulation by Historic Scotland that the renovation of Tower Mill should play a central role in the project.

The Council also managed to secure £3.3m of funding from the European Regional Development Fund for the project, as well as a further £4m from the Council's own resources. The wider “Heart of Hawick” project included works to three buildings, the creation of a civic space, enhancement to the public realm and the provision of the new James Thomson bridge over the Teviot Water.

Throughout the delivery of the project the Council produced newsletters to update the community about progress, which was especially important in the early stages when work was yet to start on site, in order to maintain community support and interest in the project. The project team also reached out to the community throughout the build phase of the project, especially with local schools where, for example, children created cobbles of their surnames which were used in the renovation of the building. Not only did such activities involve the community in the project but they also provided lasting legacies where the community had a physical link with the project long after it had been completed.

In 2007 the project was completed and Tower Mill and the Heritage Hub were opened to the community, with the Council retaining the ownership of the buildings and responsibilities for their management. The project has secured new investment, economic activity and jobs as well as providing new cultural facilities in Hawick with some of the key outputs being:

• 111 seat auditorium configurable as a cinema, theatre and conference centre;
• A coffee & music house, open from 9am till 10pm 7 days per week;
• 16 rentable workspaces, and exhibition space, for creative industries;
• Meeting rooms for hire;
• Civic space (the creation of a central, flat, easily accessed off-road civic space for performances, events, markets, street theatre, festivals etc);
• New Footbridge/cyclebridge over the River Teviot opened 24th November 2005;
• Town Centre Improvements(to improve the areas around the Tower Mill, Towerdykeside, Tower Knowe, High Street, Kirkstile and Silver street areas);
• Drumlanrig's Tower, now known as the Textile Tower House - substantial renovation/refurbishment including a move for the registrar service from the town hall into Drumlanrig's Tower.

The Drumlanrig's Tower project was undertaken by the local Scottish Historic Buildings Trust, a building preservation trust that has undertaken a number of other successful historic building projects in Hawick, as part of the 'Hawick 2000' regeneration strategy.

The Tower Mill project has been recognised through a variety of awards, including the Scottish Urban Regeneration Forum Award for Place 2007; Edinburgh Architectural Association Award; Enterprising Britain- Scottish winner; and the Scottish Awards for Quality in Planning Award 2008.

• Large scale regeneration projects take time, so maintain stakeholders' interest by letting them know what is happening, especially in the early stages when work is yet to start on site.
• Carry out an in depth risk assessment and anticipate any problems which you may encounter. By having risk management processes in place problems can be more easily overcome as and when they arise.
• Ensure that there is a dedicated team for the project to drive it forward, maintaining vital links with the project's key funders.
• Link the project with the community whenever possible, involving them and maintaining their interest and support for the project; this will help ensure a lasting legacy for the project.
• Provide mixed uses for the building which allow access at all times of the day so to make the building as accessible as possible.
• Establish positive engagement with young people as in Hawick with the establishment of a “Junior Working Group” which fed into the detailed design of the development.

Source: Scottish Borders Council