The development of the new Fringe home is nearing its final stages – we can’t wait to move in and start welcoming the wider Fringe community into the space so they can see it for themselves and start thinking about how to make the best use of it.
The refurbishment work has been underway for over a year now. During that time, we’ve stayed in touch with local community groups and organisations, and laid foundations for relationships we’d like to develop further in future.
Attending local events
We attended the Meadows Festival and the Northfield and Willowbrae Community Environment Fair in summer 2025, sharing information on the new building. We also met with members of several local community councils, and attended meetings of the Stockbridge and Inverleith community council and the Southside community council to update them on Fringe Central’s progress and hear feedback from local residents.
Enhancing existing relationships
We’re pleased to have a long-established relationship with Canongate Youth, which supports young people aged 5 to 18 in Edinburgh – they’ve been a valued partner in our Fringe Days Out project since it launched back in 2017. They’re joining us as co-tenants of 6 Infirmary Street, where they were based when the building was known as the South Bridge Resource Centre.
Over the past few months we’ve arranged for a variety of magic, storytelling and street performers to do shows and workshops with Canongate Youth; we’ve also recently opened recruitment for a Fringe artist to work with a Canongate Youth group as part of our Fringe Young Performers project, developing and staging a show at the Fringe 2026 Community Stage.
In addition, we’ve hosted a spoken word workshop with another long-term Fringe Days Out partner, LGBT Youth Scotland, the country’s national charity for LGBTQ+ young people aged 13 to 25. We’ve also discussed with them how they might best use the new space.
Our primary building contractor, Linear, has also been working with our community partners throughout the refurbishment process, completing maintenance jobs for Broomhouse Hub and 6VT Edinburgh City Youth Cafe.
Planning for the future
Our plans for Fringe Central don’t end in August – one of our aspirations for the land around the building is to create a new green space, co-designed by our community partners, for use by any and all.
These plans go beyond the scope of our initial work – find out more about how you can support us to get to that stage.
