In conjunction with Ironside Farrar landscape architects, LDN will work with the Trust and local stakeholders to create a concept design for a new Glenfinnan visitor centre and wider facilities on the site. This concept design will give the conservation charity the basis upon which it will progress with detailed design, statutory planning consultation, and building a funding package for the work.

The aim of the project is to create an environmentally sustainable visitor gateway that offers a better experience to the people who visit Glenfinnan, while importantly, helping to relieve the pressure popularity places on the local community.

The Trust’s Glenfinnan visitor centre welcomed 660,000 people in 2025, making it one of Scotland’s busiest tourist destinations outside Glasgow and Edinburgh. The existing visitor facilities, originally built in the 1960s, were designed for around 100,000 visitors per year and therefore struggle to welcome such a high volume of people at peak times.

Clea Warner, the National Trust for Scotland’s regional director for the Highlands & Islands, said: “After many years working with the Glenfinnan community on visitor management, and after undertaking a consultation exercise with the people who live here and the tourists who come here, we are now moving forward with a project to redevelop our charity’s Glenfinnan visitor facilities.

“This isn’t about attracting more visitors but better serving the visitors we already welcome. Our often-crowded facilities can result in challenging conditions for our visitors, our staff, and our community. We want to change that and become a place that thrives rather than copes and inspires rather than processes its visitors.

“Our charity’s core purpose has always been to care for Scotland’s incredible landscapes and share the stories that make them so special. Glenfinnan Monument was one of the first places we acquired in the 1930s. While it remains the same wee historic gem, tourism has evolved a lot here in the last 90 years and we’ve adapted along the way. As the Trust moves toward our centenary in 2031, this major project will ensure we can welcome and connect with future visitors in a more sustainable way. 

“Minimising the pressure tourism places on local people is an essential part of this project and we’ve been working together with our neighbours from the start. Community representatives were part of our selection panel to appoint LDN Architects and will remain involved throughout the design process. We’re all looking forward to the difference improved facilities will make to both visiting and living in Glenfinnan.”

Stuart MacKellar, partner at LDN Architects, said: “As a practice with deep roots in the Highlands, we at LDN Architects are thrilled to have been appointed by the National Trust for Scotland to help shape the future of Glenfinnan - one of the region’s most iconic and culturally significant places.

“We see it as both a privilege and a responsibility to develop proposals that deliver real change for the community and the visitor in a way that responds sensitively to Glenfinnan’s remarkable landscape and heritage. It is a complex design challenge, but one that we that we feel inspired to tackle.”

The Glenfinnan community is also working on a potential off-site mobility hub, designed to better accommodate visitor parking demand and encourage active and sustainable travel. The two projects will progress in tandem to help ensure plans to improve visitor management in the village are integrated and complementary.

Ingrid Henderson, chair of the Glenfinnan Community Facilities SCIO, said: “This is an important step forward in cohesive efforts to improve the visitor and resident experience in Glenfinnan.

“We will continue to work closely with the Trust to ensure that their visitor centre redevelopment, and our project to create a park-n-ride and active travel facility, deliver a great step forward for tourists while also reducing the impact popularity has on the daily lives of local people. We really appreciated the opportunity to be part of the architect selection process and look forward to working with LDN, confident that the Trust has made an excellent choice.”

Considering its iconic Highland setting, the new visitor centre’s design will be inspired by, complement, and blend into the landscape through sympathetic architecture and material choices. LDN Architects is based in Inverness and have a substantial track record of devising buildings that achieve environmental sensitivity, sustainability, and resilience in the face of an often-challenging West coast climate.

The Trust’s current timeline is to seek planning permission in autumn 2026 and commence work on site in 2027.