The community benefit society working to breathe new life into Dumfries High Street has appointed a new Executive Director.
Tim Cowen has taken the helm at Midsteeple Quarter as the organisation works to move its members’ town centre regeneration vision to its next stage.
He joins the society, the custodian of six community-owned buildings in the High Street, with more than 30 years’ experience of working in the voluntary and third sector.
Speaking about his new role, Tim said: “It’s an exciting time to be joining Midsteeple Quarter. The completion of The Standard has been an amazing achievement and I look forward to helping the organisation work towards the next steps of achieving the community’s vision for our remaining buildings.
“I’ve long been an admirer of the work done by Midsteeple Quarter and the model of bringing the High Street into community ownership. I am delighted to have been given the opportunity to contribute to the next phase of this vital work to regenerate Dumfries town centre.”
Tim, who lives in Wigtown, headed the award-winning charity Woodlands Community Development Trust in Glasgow for more than a decade. His major projects there included the transformation of a derelict site into an eco-friendly community building and events space.
Outside of work, Tim is a writer and performer with a passion for protecting wildlife. He is a member of Scottish Badger’s National Advisory Group and also co-ordinates their Galloway branch.
Operational work at Midsteeple Quarter for the past 16 months has been led by Kathryn Hill as interim executive director.
That has, significantly, included the completion of the multi-million pound transformation of the former Bakers Oven site into The Standard, welcoming its first residents and tenants to the showpiece site.
Kathryn remains with Midsteeple Quarter, taking on a new role as buildings operations manager.
Midsteeple Quarter chair, Robert Richmond, said: “We’re delighted to welcome Tim as our full-time executive director.
“His experience and enthusiasm will put us in good stead as we begin stepping up our work to look at the next phase of redevelopment. This is an incredibly exciting time for us.
“I would also like to express our board’s profound thanks to Kathryn for her tireless work in the interim role over the past 16 months. We owe her a great deal of gratitude. I am delighted that she has accepted a new role as our building operations manager, filling a major gap in our staff resources and providing continuity of experience and knowledge.
“The completion of The Standard has been our society’s greatest milestone to date. Thanks to the hard work of Kathryn, along with our small team of staff and directors, we are starting to see the very real benefits that the transformation will bring to Dumfries, highlighting the potential which exists in our other community-owned buildings.”
Midsteeple Quarter also owns 109 High Street, 111 High Street, 113-115 High Street, 117 High Street and 51 Bank Street. Its tenants range from independent shops to tech start-ups.
The community’s long-term vision for breathing new life into the town centre includes transforming the formerly empty and neglected buildings into new mixed neighbourhood of homes, enterprise and community spaces which put the needs of townsfolk first.
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