Inverness Town House frontage to be wrapped during repairs

The front of the town house is to be wrapped in a special material

The front of Historic Inverness Town House is to be wrapped in specialist material decorated with a full-size image of the building's frontage during repairs.

Highland Council has asked for the wrapping to help hide scaffolding while work is carried out on the building.

Work starts this year on the three-phase, three-year maintenance project costing £4.2m.

The repairs had previously been estimated to run to more than £7m.

The scaffolding is expected to be in place for two years.

Highland Council said: "The council - recognising the visual impact that this will have on the city centre location - has specified the need for a specialist building wrap to be installed on the scaffolding which will depict a full-sized image of the front of the town house.

"Ground level hoardings will also be installed depicting images of the history of the town house."

'Diminished role'

Built to a Flemish-Baronial style, the town house was opened in 1882 by Queen Victoria's second son, Alfred.

The building is owned by the Inverness Common Good Fund and is a working local authority building.

In 2012, councillors scrapped a plan to move all meetings away from the town house.

Meetings of Highland Council's Inverness city committee were to be shifted to the local authority's headquarters in Glenurquhart Road.

But councillors were concerned the move would diminish the role of the town house.

The building hosted the only gathering of Liberal Prime Minister David Lloyd George's UK government cabinet outside London.

He was on holiday in Gairloch, Wester Ross, and brought his ministers together in Inverness in September 1921.

The meeting was called following Ireland's rejection of the King.