PHRP Final Evaluation Report

18th March 2025

The PHRP commissioned Midlothian Voluntary Action (MVA) to undertake an evaluation of the project to assess whether the maim aims and objectives of the project had been met.This has now been carried out and approved by The Project Team and sent to the main funders , The National Lottery Heritage Fund and Historic Environment Scotland . In summary the report states that the scheme has been very successful and more than achieved the original aims set out. The six year scheme has delivered 28 historic building repair and restoration projects , 20 shopfront improvement schemes , 2 vacant buildings brought back into use , substantial public realm improvements and over 600 community engagement , training and education initiatives.

The project ran from April 2018 to the end of 2024. An additional year was approved due to the Pandemic together with additional grant sums as construction costs had increased due to inflation and shortage of materials over the Covid period .Originally the total value of the project was £3.4m (this included grants from the NLHF, HES and Midlothian Council contributions as well as building owners contributions to the grant scheme) . With the additional funding this now has increased to £5.1m worth of investment in assisting to regenerate the historic core of the town centre.