Target reached!
New Target! We've been blown away by the support for our bid to save the Bernat Klei...
Saving Peter Womersley's Bernat Klein Studio
United Kingdom
Aim
To save for the nation one of Scotland’s most significant buildings of the twentieth century.
One of Scotland’s most important twentieth-century buildings is at risk of being lost forever.
Designed in 1972 by renowned modernist architect Peter Womersley and influenced by Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater, the Category A-Listed Bernat Klein Studio, located between Selkirk and Galashiels, was once the beating heart of the textile industry in the Scottish Borders. The studio is currently in a severely dilapidated state and has been on the Buildings at Risk Register since 2002.
Now, a coalition of Scottish heritage and design organisations have joined forces to save the Bernat Klein Studio from ruin and create a new venue to inspire creative arts in the Scottish Borders.
We are seeking urgent support to help us ensure an exciting future for this national treasure and its unique cultural legacy.
Bernat Klein Studio by Peter Womersley, 1972. © Arup Partners - Bernat Klein Foundation
Bernat Klein at work in the Studio, 1970s. © Bernat Klein Archive, Heriot Watt University
Why now?
On the 30th July 2025, the Bernat Klein Studio will be put up for public auction with a guide price of £18,000. We are urgently seeking funding to give us the best fighting chance of acquiring the building and carrying out vital emergency repairs.
A condition survey and structural assessment instructed by Scottish Borders Council in 2023 reveals a building with significant and myriad issues from its prolonged vacancy, water-damage, deterioration, and acts of vandalism. Estimates of restoration costs undertaken by specialist advisers are a minimum of £2.5m-£3m.
Vandalism at the Studio, c. 2021. © Michael Smith, Preserving Womersley
The Bernat Klein Studio Coalition
The National Trust for Scotland, Bernat Klein Foundation, and Scottish Historic Buildings Trust have united as the Bernat Klein Studio Coalition aiming to buy and restore the building. Our ambition is that The Studio should be returned to its original use as a design studio alongside a programme of public engagement.
The restored Bernat Klein Studio will enable the creation of a permanent base in the Scottish Borders for the Bernat Klein Foundation, whose creatively-led projects include exhibitions, workshops, and talks.
Our campaign aims to raise enough support to purchase the Bernat Klein Studio and make much-needed emergency repairs. If we are not successful in buying the building, all donations will be returned.
Concept drawing of Bernat Klein Studio as a visitor attraction © Matt Loader at Loader Monteith Architects, 2023
This project successfully funded on 8th August 2025