Our President on the Box The Hill House Appeal

We have kicked off one of the most ambitious and important fundraising drives in our history to save Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s Hill House in Helensburgh. Unfortunately, since the day it was built the house has let in water, and despite the conservation work carried out by previous owners, the Trust, and our partners, no solution has yet proved permanent.

We now need to urgently intervene to save Hill House. In December, we announced our plans to build The Box: a futuristic mesh armour which will surround Hill House, offering the building vital respite from the elements, while our team of experts set to work restoring the home to its former glory.

Excitingly, The Box will mean that Hill House will remain open to the public – and open like never before. Visitors will be able to climb the Box’s stairs and gangways to get a bird’s eye view of Mackintosh’s iconic design and the restoration work that will save it.

To build The Box before the next winter hits, the Trust urgently needs to raise £1.5 million. Speaking about the appeal, our President Neil Oliver has echoed how urgent this appeal is for the Trust and for Hill House: “The house is just dissolving. Left alone it will just cease to be, fall apart, which nobody wants.”

He has urged that, given the innovative nature of the project and the unique opportunity it gives for visitors to see the vital conservation work in action, that “it’s only right that people should contribute”.