Back theSpace: Scotland's Most Ambitious Youth Hub

Aim

Be a part of Dunbar’s most ambitious and vital community space. Help us raise the final £10K needed to submit our planning application.

theSpace North Berwick was built with borrowed time, duct tape, and relentless heart. It became one of East Lothian’s most loved and impactful youth powered community spaces.

Now, we’re doing it right: a permanent, purpose-built version for Dunbar.

theSpace NB created jobs, forged friendships, taught life and work skills, supported improved mental health and created a lasting culture of diversity and inclusion. It proved that multi-generational youth-powered spaces can change entire communities. We are now bringing this proven social enterprise model to Dunbar, on a far bigger scale, more ambitious and meeting a community need that has never been greater.

We’ve already raised £88,000 but we need your help to raise the final £10,000 to submit our planning application. Join us and help launch theSpace Dunbar, an ambitious landmark facility, powered by youth for the whole community.

The Problem

Dunbar and East Lothian’s population has grown rapidly in recent years, but our social, cultural, and recreational infrastructure has not kept pace. Our outdoor spaces are varied and amazing, but when it comes to indoor facilities, there is limited choice and little diversity. Too many people are left without a place that feels like theirs.

Local clubs do fantastic work, but they don’t work for everyone. Many young people who aren’t engaged in traditional activities say there’s “nothing to do.” Opportunities are scarce for those who don’t follow the college or university route, and too many young people who want to stay, live, and build careers locally are being let down.

At the same time, new housing developments are expanding on the edges of Dunbar, while the historic town core feels increasingly separate. What we lack is a unifying force, something that brings people together across generations, backgrounds, and interests.

We also lack the medium sized enterprises that drive local economic growth and reinvest in their communities. The entertainment and leisure facilities that families travel to Edinburgh for are simply missing here in Dunbar. Services are stretched, youth provision has been reduced, and opportunities, social, cultural, and economic, are simply too limited.

Dunbar deserves better. We need a space that reflects the scale of our growth, the diversity of our community, and the ambitions of our young people.

The Solution: theSpace Dunbar

We’re building an inclusive, multi-generational, financially and environmentally sustainable community facility packed with life, learning, creativity and movement. Think skatepark, climbing/ bouldering walls, co-working spaces, a café, a flexible performance space for cinema, gigs, dance and theatre, workshops, retail, and a learning hub.

Backed by years of experience, extensive consultation, and a powerful local legacy, we are ready to move forward. But first, we need planning permission!

What Will This Funding Do?

Your donation will help us raise the final £10,000 of the £98,000 total needed to complete and submit our planning application in 2025. These funds will go toward:

• Planning application fees

• Remaining Professional fees (architecture, surveys, design)

• Enabling community and youth involvement in the planning stage

We’ve already raised £88,000. Help us make the final push.

If we are able to raise above £10,000 we would put this towards youth work services and expand the already immensely valuable work we are doing in the local community. 

What You Get When You Give

• All donors: Your name on our Community Wall of Supporters inside the facility

• Every donor: A stake in building a game-changing community facility

Be Part of It

This isn’t just about bricks and mortar. This is about people. About giving Dunbar, East Lothian and beyond a space that brings generations together, supports young people to lead and thrive, and strengthens the heartbeat of our communities.

Donate now, share our story, get engaged and get involved. The dream is real. The plan is in motion. It’s happening. Let’s build theSpace Dunbar together.

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Our Story: From North Berwick to Dunbar

We know this works, because we’ve done it before. 

Our future vision is inspired by our past experiences. Big ideas, little steps.  

Between 2006 and 2010 we ran Phantassie Sounds, a community rehearsal room that created a gig circuit and powered up a platform for musical youth. Many of the young musicians were skaters and BMX riders and In 2009 and 2010 we set up and ran Phantassie Skatepark, a summer time adventure that forged a community of young people making plans and making these plans happen. It lit a fuse of ambition.   

The next step was a bold one. In late 2010 we took on a disused factory and built and opened theSpace North Berwick, empowered by big dreams, youthful energy and the creativity that comes from having barely any money. Over the next five years, it became a life-changing space for hundreds of young people. Its impact was huge across our community with its incredible skatepark, café, kids soft play, music rooms and wood workshop. It was an events space, a rebellious pulse and a learning hub, it was creative, chaotic, and full of heart. It was theSpace. 

Here’s what we achieved between 2010 and 2015:

• Over 3,800 young people accessed our spaces

• Created 28 jobs (60% for young people)

• Benefited from over 13,000 hours of volunteer time

• Generated over £600,000 for the local economy

• Delivered £1 million in social enterprise capital and revenue, with 84% of operational revenue self-earned through trading

• Became a trusted local resource for mental health support, work experience, skills development, fun and belonging

Young people found confidence, community, and purpose, and many still tell us to this day that it changed their lives. Many are still deeply involved to this day. 

Sadly, our lease ended in 2015, and despite huge effort, a new site couldn’t be immediately found. The organisation wound down, but the vision never disappeared.

Now, we’re bringing it back, bigger, better, and built to last.

What We’re Doing Right Now

theSpace Dunbar isn’t just a future plan, we’re already making things happen.

We are getting back to our musical roots by supporting young musicians, technicians, promoters and creatives across the community, forging space for youth led creativity. We are supporting local events with sound and light services, including Lifeboat Day, ELAF, Dunbar Music Festival and the Xmas Lights Switch On event.

We have recently employed a community based youth worker and are developing a trainee youth work team, filling gaps locally and working with local partners to provide life-enhancing and potentially life changing opportunities to young people.

We are involved in the outdoor activity hub at The Jampot at Hallhill in Dunbar and are excited about the potential of the new pump track alongside the planned outdoor skatepark and the cafe. theSpace, working with partners, will be central to helping this facility be a safe, inclusive and empowering space. 

And our latest project? We’ve transformed the iconic 170-year-old Auction Mart in East Linton into a pop-up multi-generational skate space, reclaiming an underused building to create activity, creativity, and community connections. Working in partnership with The Ridge Support Team and supported by local businesses, a young team built a high-quality indoor ramp that’s already making an impact.

• Created by young people, led by an experienced ramp designer and builder - 5 young people completed the build

• Real outcomes - 3 of them secured pre-apprenticeship places with The Ridge

• Locally and sustainably sourced - a huge donation of timber from Windymains Timber made it all possible

• Funded by community-minded partners - including Dunbar Community Council, DELAP, ELC’s Multiply Fund, and Gilson Gray.

• We have developed a young team of coaches and volunteers to inspire and empower the next generation 

All of this is just the beginning. We’re proving what’s possible now, while laying the foundation for the permanent, purpose-built space Dunbar so urgently needs.

Moving Forward

theSpace Dunbar is the next chapter: a purpose-built, net-zero, youth-powered hub that will serve all generations. We’ve learned from everything that worked before, and from everything we wish we’d had the first time. We are stronger, better connected, wiser and still full of fire for an adventure fuelled by our vision and values. 

With your help, we’re ready to make this permanent. To build not just a space, but a legacy. As soon as we have the £10,000 we will submit the planning application. Securing this will propel us towards our dream to build and run theSpace Dunbar.

Are you in? We are. All the way.

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A Special Thanks to Those Who Got Us Here

We want to sincerely thank all those who have funded, helped or donated their time or funding up to now:

We want to thank our professional team who have worked alongside us to bring us to the point we are now at. 

EMA Architects / LUC / Locogen / DAB Civil Engineers / Pottie Wilson / The Airshed /

Funding method

Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made