Scotland Loves Local campaigns aim to bring community back to town centres, encouraging consumers and business owners to choose local in a bid to bring positive change.

HHA’s restoration of Merchant House, located at 51-53 Castle Street in Inverness, was made possible through a £1.2 million Scottish Partnership Support for Regeneration grant, private finance, and City Region Deal funding. This funding enabled HHA, alongisde project partners, to redevelop the historic B-listed building, which sits in the shadow of Inverness Castle.

Merchant House’s regeneration has previously been shortlisted in the Herald Property Awards for Scotland 2023 in the Best Regeneration – Residential Category, as well as Housing Regeneration Project of the Year and Renovation of the Year in the Scottish Home Awards 2023.

Gail Matheson, CEO at HHA, said “It is an honour to be nominated for a Scotland Loves Local Award for our work on Merchant House. The full project team worked tirelessly to ensure the iconic building was given new life without removing the features that made it so recognisable within the city.

“We wish the best of luck to all other finalists in the Scotland Loves Local Awards and look forward to the award ceremony next month.”

The Scotland Loves Local Awards Finals 2023 will take place at the V&A Dundee on Tuesday 28 November.

Full project partners included in the restoration of Merchant House included Scottish Government (funding partner), The Highland Council (funding partner), Inverness City Region Deal (funding partner), Compass Building & Construction Services Ltd (contractor), CRGP Limited (architect), HGA (UK) Ltd (consulting engineer), KLM Partnership (chartered surveyor), Helica (Scotland) Ltd (project management) and Macleod and MacCallum (legal advisors).