Dingwall High Street business lodges plans with Highland Council for shop front facelift
A prominent high street business in Dingwall looks set for a facelift under plans lodged with Highland Council.
The Sports and Model Shop at 66 High Street has submitted plans to replace its existing 1970s era shop frontage with a "more traditional timber shop frontage".
In supporting material lodged with the application, the shop's agent Red Six Architecture said: "It is proposed to replace the existing shop front which replaced the original shop front circa 1970.
"The current windows and doors are made of aluminium and are single pane. The clients wish to replace the shopfront primarily in the interests of improved energy efficiency and also a desire to improve the security of the shop with double glazing as the shop holds a registered Firearms Licence, but they also wish to take this opportunity to return the shop front to a more traditional aesthetic."
Describing the new look, they added: "A design has been produced that creates a more traditional shop front with a return to symmetry. For this the original internal pillars are being utilised to flank the new door which is proposed to be centred on these pillars with two timber panels at either side of the new door to line through visually with the pillars. These panels also serve as decorative side columns typical of doors in the Victorian era."
They added that the shop owner hopes to have a "bright white finish on the new shop front.”
"Although it is noted that almost all the shops that have returned to a traditional shop front have opted for subtle grey painted finishes. Victorian shop fronts rarely used grey and tended to be a combination of pastel colures and white. We feel that the high street is at risk of becoming grey and drab undoing some of the efforts to reinstate the more traditional vernacular of the high street and this is to some degree preventing the individuality of each shop from coming through.
"Therefore, we propose to use white which will represent a rounding or tying in with the museum next door which utilises white and bright blue."
