Plans to create a visitor centre on the Isle of Lewis to commemorate the UK’s worst peacetime maritime disaster since the sinking of the Titanic have taken a step forward.
The multi-million-pound visitor centre would tell the story of the disaster of the Admiralty yacht ‘HMY Iolaire’ which claimed the lives of 201 of the 280 men on board when she foundered on rocks by the entrance to Stornoway harbour in the early hours of New Year’s Day of 1919.
The vision to build a high-profile Iolaire Centre in Stornoway was presented at an event in the town on Tuesday evening.
The aim is to develop an iconic building with the ambition to rank in the top five comparable visitor experiences in Scotland.
A budget of £20m was mooted for the project a few years ago but it’s thought the proposals would cost more given the current economic climate.
The sinking of the Iolaire is an event that lives long in the memory of the communities of Lewis.
The vessel had been transporting servicemen from Lewis, Harris and Berneray home for the first New Year of peace following the end of the war.
The project team has spoken to a range of people and groups across the island community to understand how they can preserve this important story for both locals and visitors.
Primary and secondary school pupils took part in workshops, as did some care home residents, as the project team seeks to understand islanders’ hopes, ambitions, and vision for the centre.
The project team said: “Over the last six months, the project team has spoken to a range of people and groups across our community to understand how we can preserve this important story for both locals and visitors.
“The centre will explore our relationship with the sea, how it both gives and takes away, and places the Iolaire story at its heart.
“There will be opportunities to ask questions and provide feedback for input to this ambitious project for a world-class centre.”
The intention is to commission an architect of national or international renown to design the building in conjunction “with and around the visitor learning journey, from the inside out.”
Portraits work painted by the artist Margaret Ferguson of the men who were on the Iolaire when she ran aground on the Beasts of Holm were proposed to be on display within the centre.
It is also hoped to secure “An Treas Suaile”, the musical work of Julie Fowlis and Duncan Chisholm based on the disaster.
Ground investigations took place in 2023 at a proposed location by number one pier, the spot where the returning service men set off from and should have landed.
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