The £16.6 million restoration and redevelopment of Perth’s 115-year old theatre will take a significant step forward this week as the project team submits detailed plans to Perth & Kinross Council.

The Perth Theatre, a B-listed Edwardian auditorium, will be restored to its former glory and a new 200-seater studio theatre created at the venue when it reopens at the end of 2017.

The newly transformed venue will have increased workshop spaces for creative learning and community projects including the thriving Perth Youth Theatre, which celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2016, and there will be improved access and facilities for audiences and visitors.

Horsecross Arts, the trust behind the project, have launched a fundraising push to raise the final £1.5m to get work underway by the end of the year, once planning permission is secured.

The long-awaited revamp has already been in the planning staged for more than eight years and the venue was closed down at the beginning of last year to make way for the revamp.

However a review overseen by the theatre’s new chief executive, Gwilym Gibbons, saw the budget soaring by £2m and a number of changes to the designs.

The project - which involves the creation of new education, workshop and rehearsal spaces - has been pledged £15m by a range of funders, including Perth and Kinross Council, Creative Scotland, and the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Gwilym Gibbons said: “The submission of these detailed plans is an exciting step along the way to transforming Perth Theatre and means we remain on track to reopen in late 2017. Planning is a very important consultation and decision making stage but we hope to go through that process smoothly so that we can move forward in earnest with the project to transform Perth Theatre into a 21st Century space of which Perth can be proud.”

All Horsecross Arts customers have the option to donate £1 or more when booking tickets for any events online or through Perth Concert Hall Box Office, or to donate a sum of their choice to the Transform Perth Theatre fund online.