Old Scatness Visitor Centre Shetland, North Scottish Iron Age Building Project News, Design

Old Scatness, Shetland : Visitor Centre Scotland

Shetland Development near Sumburgh Airport in northern Scotland, Europe

post updated 6 September 2024

Old Scatness Iron Age archeological site

Location: South Mainland, near Sumburgh Airport
Site unearthed: late 70’s
Excavation start: 1995
Old Scatness Excavation : Bradford University students

Old Scatness Shetland

Remains of an Iron Age tower or Broch + Britain’s best-preserved Iron Age village

Proposed “world-class” visitor centre
Due to be built in 2012
Dome-shaped grass-roofed timber-framed building clad using walls made of stone from the site

Design approved by Shetland Amenity Trust trustees

Following excavation at Old Scatness it is now thought brochs were built much earlier than previously believed and that people lived in the Scatness settlement for around 4,000 years.

The dome was the favoured option for the Old Scatness broch site among three investigated for Shetland Amenity Trust by Edinburgh-based experts led by specialist architects Groves-Raines.

The architectural inspiration for the dome comes from the Newgrange passage tomb in County Meath, Ireland, the Cliffs of Moher visitor centre in County Clare, Ireland, and the Ladbyskibet Viking ship burial site in Denmark.

Old Scatness Heritage Project
Shetland Amenity Trust
22-24 North Road
Lerwick, ZE1 0NQ, UK

UNESCO world heritage site : Skara Brae, Orkney

Location: Sumburgh Airport, Shetland, Scotland