‘We feel we are emerging from the shadows into a far brighter future’: Assynt Foundation announces two ‘transformational’ partnership agreements
The community-run Assynt Foundation has announced that it has reached agreements with two organisations that will be “transformational” for its future.
The foundation is in the final stages of signing a 25-year lease to hand over the running of its Glencanisp Lodge to businessman Nick Dent, co-owner of the Original Collection, a group of boutique hotels across the UK.
It is also entering into a 30-year partnership agreement with the Woodland Trust to undertake a large-scale landscape management project across its 44,000 acres.
Foundation board chairman Lewis MacAskill said: “We have been working on this for four and a half years. These are significant developments, and they are transformational for us for a number of reasons.
“The board feels that we are emerging from the shadows into a far brighter future, and we feel really positive that all our hard work will start to pay off over the next few years.”
The Assynt Foundation staged a community buyout of the Glencanisp and Drumrunie Estates in 2005 with substantial support from the Scottish Land Fund and others.
The buyout was the first major land holding purchase under the community buy-out provisions of the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003.
However, the foundation has struggled in the past to stay afloat financially and to find people with the skills and knowledge to run its multifaceted business.
The 12-bedroom Glencanisp Lodge, a classic Victorian sporting lodge, has been closed since 2019, initially due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Mr MacAskill said: “We were going to have to shut it anyway because we were running at a loss. The closure happened at the same time as our last manager left, and those two things made us stand back and take a cold, hard look at things.
“The board realised that no one person had the skills and experience that the foundation needed. The breadth was just too wide, from estate and tourism to hospitality management. We asked ourselves what else we could do to get on a more stable footing.”
Mr Dent, who has hotels in Edinburgh, Skye, Shieldaig, Thurso, and Orkney, is expected to spend around £1 million over five to seven years refurbishing the lodge, with talk of an extension to create a restaurant and additional accommodation.
He intends to open the lodge all year round, creating an estimated 15-20 full-time jobs, and a property in Lochinver, previously run as a B&B, has been purchased to provide staff accommodation.
Mr MacAskill, who visited Original Collection hotels with other board members as part of their due diligence, said: “Nick will take over a year to carry out an initial refurbishment and is currently talking about opening in early 2026.
“Public access will remain around the lodge, and there are plans to create a cafe/bar specifically for walkers and locals where people with muddy boots, wet jackets, and dogs will be welcome.
“The long term lease of Glencanisp gives the Assynt Foundation much-needed stability in the form of a fixed income without bearing the financial risks. This will allow the foundation to focus on other goals and objectives that we have not had the capacity to do.”
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Mr MacAskill said that working with the Woodland Trust “brings together two charities together - the foundation with our wonderful assets, Glencanisp and Drumrunie, and the Wildlife Trust with their resources, skills, and funding”.
An integrated land management plan is being drawn up over the next year, which will then be rolled out over the remainder of the 30-year period.
It will include an ecological restoration project to create a new native woodland area, as well as improve open ground habitat, and peatland restoration.
“The funding will have to be significant,” said Mr MacAskill. “We are looking at accessing existing new woodland grants and also generating carbon credits for new woodland areas. These carbon credits can be sold to green investors.
“We do know the sums of money involved for the carbon credits. We have a framework agreement for the 30-year partnership, and now we need to get down to the details. We have done a lot of hard work, but there is still a lot of hard work to be done.”
