(Image: Andrew Milligan/PA)
A new visitor centre is planned for Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s Hill House in Helensburgh as part of a £20 million project to conserve the architectural landmark and celebrate the work of Mackintosh and his wife, Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh.
The National Trust for Scotland (NTS) has announced plans for the centre through its Mackintosh Illuminated project, which combines conservation work with new visitor experiences, research, learning opportunities and community engagement.
Plans for the centre at The Hill House in Helensburgh as part of the Mackintosh Illuminated project. (Image: Supplied)
The proposed centre will include interpretation and engagement facilities, a café and a shop, with a planning application due to be submitted to Argyll and Bute Council later this month by Scottish conservation architects LDN.
The development is intended to provide permanent visitor facilities away from the main house, supporting plans to eventually remove the protective structure known as the Hill House Box.
Completed in 2019, the Box has shielded the building from the elements while allowing it to dry out and enabling conservation research. The house currently attracts around 32,000 visitors a year.
The proposed centre would be built on low-grade land behind the house that is currently used as a car park. An assessment by the trust’s head of nature conservation found that no significant trees are expected to be displaced, with any affected vegetation limited to scrub and brush.
Earlier this year, the original Portland cement roughcast was removed from The Hill House following five and a half months of specialist work. The newly exposed walls are now being studied and tested to help inform the next phase of conservation.
Mackintosh Illuminated is centred on The Hill House and The Mackintosh Tearooms in Glasgow. The project is supported by The National Lottery Heritage Fund and has a total cost of around £20 million.
Plans for the centre at The Hill House in Helensburgh as part of the Mackintosh Illuminated project. (Image: Supplied)
An anonymous private donation of £625,000 towards the project was announced in June 2026.
The National Trust for Scotland is the country’s largest conservation charity, caring for more than 100 heritage sites. Its 10-year strategy, Nature, Beauty & Heritage for Everyone, was launched in March 2022 ahead of the organisation’s centenary in 2031.
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Liz Davidson, project director for Mackintosh Illuminated at the National Trust for Scotland, said: "The Hill House was designed as a complete work of architecture, where the building, interiors and landscape were conceived in relation to one another.
"Our long-term ambition is to conserve the house so that the Box can be removed, and Mackintosh’s architecture can once again be understood in that setting.
"The proposed visitor centre is an important part of achieving that.
"By locating the facilities away from the house, we can provide what a modern visitor attraction needs and protect the architectural integrity and allowing The Hill House itself to once again define this part of the Helensburgh skyline."