Awards winning Innovative FEAT kicks off multi million-pound renovation project

Glenrothes based mental health charity Fife Employment Action Trust (FEAT) has taken over 27 acre Silverburn Park to create a mental health, employment training hub with 7.5million visitor centre for tourists and locals in the heart of Fife.

The plans kicked off with a crowdfund campaign to raise the final £200,000 for the planned café and restaurant, shop, backpackers’ hostel with en-suite rooms, arts and craft studios, public toilets with fully accessible changing facilities, as well as spaces for meetings, events and learning. Interactive displays will tell the story of the Flax Mill, flax processing, and how the mill fitted into the wider flax industry across Fife (in its heyday over 200 local people were employed here).

“Silverburn Park is being transformed under our stewardship and the long-term goal is to repurpose the B-listed former Flax Mill to create a visitor centre and community hub offering jobs, training, space for retail and creativity, as well as offering shelter and sustenance for walkers and cyclists enjoying Silverburn Park and the Fife Coastal Path, “ said Duncan Mitchel CEO of FEAT.

“The Park is looking for donations to help realise the dream via the crowdfunding appeal and several local businesses have already pledged their support. As well as a good bit of PR for your business, with acknowledgements on our website and social media platforms, you can make a positive difference to the long-term future of mental health and wellbeing of Fifers for generations to come if you can support the appeal. Thank you, “ he added.

The flax mill project aims to bring back to the life the currently derelict B-listed former Flax Mill building as an iconic centre-piece to Silverburn Park, which at present boasts a family friendly campsite with glamping pods and campervan hook ups, woodlands walks, a café, free bike rental, community allotments, a walled garden and easy access to Leven beach and the Fife Coastal Path. There are plans for four arts & crafts studios, fully accessible public toilets with Changing Places facilities, meeting rooms and event space, offices for FEAT staff and partners, Interpretation displays telling the history of the mill and how it fitted into the wider flax industry across Fife and a backpackers' hostel with 27 beds.

The planned opening date for the mill is Easter 2025 when it is planned that the Levenmouth Railway Link will also be operational, opening up Leven to visitors from Edinburgh and the South.