St Andrew Boat Club
Our Mission
Creating a new canal-side clubhouse for Edinburgh’s open water rowers. This project involved the creation of a new flagship boathouse for Edinburgh’s world-renowned St Andrew Boat Club (SABC) , the oldest open water amateur rowing club in Scotland, founded in 1846. The club has an ever-growing multigenerational membership, and counts Dame Katherine Grainger as alumni, but had fully outgrown their existing facilities.
SABC commissioned GLM to design and build a new boathouse for their members who regularly train on the adjacent Union canal in Edinburgh. The facility had to include space for 24 rowing machines, modern changing facilities, vital boat storage and multipurpose social spaces. The new build element sensitively sits adjacent to the canal, a scheduled monument, so numerous challenges arose surrounding archaeology and infrastructure.
As such, support from Scottish Canals to regenerate the canal was key to the success of the development. The new boathouse will better support the intense training of future Olympians while also creating opportunities for local rowing talent and social rowers. The club continues to reap the benefits of its previous facility too, as it has been rejuvenated and converted into a workshop for restoring vintage boats.
