The funding will support a five-year community-led project involving a new visitor centre at the Levenmouth site, a backpackers’ hostel, café, artist studios, community space and a shop.

The project will create around 130 jobs, including construction trainee placements for local young people, and roles for people experiencing mental health problems. Activity plans include volunteering activities that will specifically target groups from under-represented communities.

The project is being delivered by Fife Employment Access Trust (FEAT) and Fife Council and aims to encourage tourism, support local businesses, and provide social prescribing activities for mental health and wellbeing.

The B-listed building, dating from the 1850s, is an important reminder of Fife’s central role in the linen industry which ended in the 19th century. Owned by the Russell family until the 1970s, the Silverburn Mill and its 27-acre park on the Fife Coastal Path, was gifted to the people of Leven. Later uses included an animal farm, a craft centre and an events venue. These activities ceased and the buildings closed during the 1990s.

Renamed Silverburn Park, FEAT took on the lease for the park in 2019 and aims to make it the base for the innovative work in using the outdoors to support people experiencing mental ill health back into work.

The grant of more than £3.4 million from the National Lottery Heritage Fund adds to funding from other donors including Fife Council, which has pledged £2 million; a Regeneration Capital Grant Fund from the Scottish Government of £1.5m; £510,000 from Historic Environment Scotland; and nearly £40,000 generated by the Levenmouth community.

Caroline Clark, director for Scotland at the National Lottery Heritage Fund, said: “Heritage is at the heart of every community and we are delighted to support a project which will safeguard this unique historic Flax Mill building and use it to revitalise Silverburn through creating an exciting new use, provide training and sustainable employment, benefit mental health and wellbeing and develop tourism locally.

“Thanks to National Lottery players, new life will be breathed into the Silverburn Flax Mill and the wider park, and as a result of this transformation, others will have the opportunity to transform their lives too.”

FEAT CEO Duncan Mitchell said: It’s nearly ten years since we started work on proposals to regenerate Silverburn Park and so what a wonderful result from a decade of hard work!

“At times it’s been something of a rollercoaster ride with so many challenges to overcome – our core work has a large focus on developing resilience in people to manage life events and I think we’ve demonstrated resilience of our own over these years to reach this stage. After a long journey, we have now attracted funding for our vision and developments at the park have engaged support from the local community and beyond.

”Our Friends of Silverburn Park group has over 70 members, many involved on a daily basis supporting the staff team with ongoing maintenance and improvements in the Park. We have established profit-making ventures with our café and campsite – making a profit to support ongoing running costs and also investing in local people by providing jobs at the Real Living Wage. Now we can look forward to achieving even more positive outcomes in the years ahead. Huge thanks goes out to everyone who has played in part in helping us reach this milestone.”

Levenmouth committee convener, Cllr Ken Caldwell, said: “This is great news for Silverburn Park and Levenmouth as a whole. Despite the lockdowns, Silverburn Park has continued to grow and develop. The campsite and The Cottage Window Café are proving very popular with locals and visitors from further afield.

“Fife Council has already committed £2m to the project from its Capital Plan. This level of investment in the Flax Mill is more evidence that the future is bright for Levenmouth.”

Christine May, chair of Fife Historic Buildings Trust, said: “We are so excited to continue to work alongside FEAT and Fife Council to deliver this transformative project in Levenmouth. The revitalisation of Silverburn Park by FEAT has been a huge success, benefitting local people, visitors and FEAT clients. The redevelopment of the flax mill building will create the centrepiece to this, and Fife Historic Buildings Trust is privileged to be working with FEAT – and with a talented design team.”

The planned opening date for the mill is Easter 2026 when the Levenmouth Railway Link will also be operational, opening up Leven to visitors from Edinburgh and the South.

Silverburn Park also lies within the Levenmouth to Lundin Links Green Network Area, and contains significant trees and woodland areas, waterbodies and a watercourse. The project will promote the natural heritage of the pond, the wider park and the nearby Fife Coastal Path and shoreline, which is visited by 3.6 million people annually.