Glentress Peel

Business opportunities

Please note that the deadline for receiving expressions of interest for the business opportunities at Glentress Peel is now past.

The Expressions of Interest document (PDF 70k) contains the background to the Peel project and details of the business opportunities recently advertised.

If you have any queries about the Glentress Peel project, or the recently advertised opportunities, please email glentress.peel@forestry.gsi.gov.uk .

What is the Glentress Peel?

Glentress Peel is a new Forestry Commission Scotland (FCS) visitor facility based in the heart of the Tweed Valley Forest Park (TVFP) at Glentress Forest, partly funded by Scottish Enterprise and Sportscotland.

The forest is already the biggest tourist attraction in the Scottish Borders, with 300,000 visitors a year and increasing. To cope with this demand and to provide modern facilities, FCS is proposing a total revamp of the current visitor facilities at Glentress.

See latest progress

We aim to have the new facilities open for early 2011.

Read the latest Glentress Peel press releases.

Glentress Peel Facilities

Locally-sourced timber will be used to create the structures for the four new buildings spread across the 12-acre hill side site.

Orientation Building

The orientation building will house the osprey viewing and exhibition space as well as the shower, toilet and changing facilities.

Drawing of the orientation building at the Glentress Peel

The Café

The café building will have an outdoor decked area overlooking the ponds.

Drawing of the decking at the Glentress Peel cafe

Bike shop and hire

There will be a bike shop/hire outlet. Timber trusses (pictured) will be a main feature of the interior.

Drawing of the timber trusses in the building at the Glentress Peel

The Peel Building

The Peel building will be an office base for FC staff as well as a multi-use space offering a key venue for training and business meetings.

Architect's drawing of the Glentress Peel building

The overall site plan

The four buildings will be linked with a series of roads, bridges, pathways and signage which will help bring the whole site to life for all of our visitors.

Small image of the peel site plan

See a large version of the site plan (PDF 131k).

Progress

Work on site is progressing well with all the timber trusses, constructed from Glentress Douglas Fir, in place and all of the four new buildings now visible.

Trusses in the cafe building at the Glentress Peel

The Orientation Building was the first structure to go up and work is ongoing on the internal features. This building will house the all-new osprey viewing centre and interpretation room as well as provide information on Glentress forest and the rest of the Tweed Valley Forest Park.

The orientation building at the Glentress Peel

The Café and Bike shop buildings down by the ponds are starting to take shape, with the glass panels now in place. The tendering process for these business opportunities is now underway.

The cafe and bike shop building at the Glentress Peel

Landscaping works are on going and the whole site is starting to green up, with the trees and hedging along the access road starting to establish.

The McLaughlin and Harvey build contract is due to complete early 2011 to allow us time for the fit-out of the buildings and preparation of site for an Easter opening.

Vision

Our vision is that the TVFP should be recognised as a centre of excellence for active outdoor recreation in attractive forests and a source of pride for local communities.

Glentress Peel will be a showcase for FCS and our partners, serving the needs of visitors to the Forest Park. It will be developed along three guiding principles:

To provide visitors to the Tweed Valley with a memorable experience and high quality services.
To be designed and built on sustainable principles.
To demonstrate good practice in the use of timber, where possible using timber grown locally.