Midsteeple people: Dion Corbett
If there’s a single image which has come to symbolise the physical vision of Midsteeple Quarter, it’s that displayed at the front of our Dumfries High Street construction site.
The drawing highlights how the creation of new homes and better enterprise spaces can be at the heart of a rejuvenated, vibrant, mixed and sustainable town centre - showing how community ownership and innovative, locally-led action can deliver a better, fairer future.
It was created by Dumfries-based architect Dion Corbett - part of a special connection she shares with the mission to reclaim the High Street for the community and transform Midsteeple Quarter.
She said: “It’s quite surreal when you walk along the High Street and see the drawing there, displayed across the front of the site.
“Every time I see it, it takes me back to a time when I had not long finished studying. Everything that the community was setting out to achieve was quite hypothetical then.
“Now, to see that drawing on the front of the building and to know that the vision the drawing represents is becoming reality is exciting. It makes everything we’ve done at this point feel worthwhile.”
Dion Corbett with the image she created to depict the vision of Midsteeple Quarter
Since 2019, Doonhamer Dion has been one of the volunteer directors of Midsteeple Quarter, sitting on our board which represents the voice of our members and the hopes they have for the long-term regeneration of Dumfries High Street.
But her connection to the project goes back to its roots - as townsfolk realised the best way to take control of the High Street’s destiny was for them to have a true stake in it, taking abandoned and underused buildings into community use and finding a way to begin transforming them.
“I was born and brought up in Dumfries, but had been away studying in Glasgow, “Dion explained. “When I finished my post-graduate degree in architecture I came home and got an internship with The Stove Network, working on its Nith Raid river festival.
“Off the back of that, I started doing freelance architectural work for the Midsteeple Quarter project. The first part of that was to create an entry for Scotland’s Towns Partnership’s Future Towns competition in 2017. That’s how the drawing came about.
“Shortly after that, we went public with it and The Stove started community engagement to help capture the community’s imagination about what everyone involved hoped to achieve. We held an event called Chapter One in the old Baker’s Oven and started getting members. It’s all grown from there.”
Dion was, of course, among those early members as the Midsteeple Quarter Community Benefit Society came into being in April 2018, creating the wave of action which now sees the townsfolk of Dumfries now owning five properties on the High Street, as well as 51 Bank Street.
And, while the beginning of her professional career and further training with an architecture practice saw her step back from Midsteeple Quarter for a time, she was delighted when the opportunity emerged for her to join the board and become involved again.
With work on transforming the former Baker’s Oven site at 135-139 High Street into new homes and enterprise spaces on-course for completion next spring, Dion believes the community are seeing their hopes for a better town centre beginning to come to life.
She said: “I’m so pleased at what Midsteeple Quarter has achieved so far.
“This has grown from a seed of an idea among a group of visionary people. To see it becoming reality on the scale it has in such a short space of time is beyond what anyone could have expected.
“With the building work we have underway, people can see that things are happening and that there’s real investment in the town centre. That’s so positive. And there’s so much more to come.”
In the blueprint for the future of Midsteeple Quarter, this is just the first phase of creating new homes and better places for people to work and visit.
“We’ve plans for up to five phases,” she added. “There are so many opportunities which keep emerging. In so many ways, the possibilities are endless. Creating this new community and having more people living on the High Street is so important.
“Over time, the work taking place here will have an even greater catalyst effect through the town.”
On the impact of the Midsteeple Quarter project on her personally, Dion added: “It’s a big part of what’s kept me living in Dumfries. I got into my industry through Midsteeple Quarter. I was able to get my first job locally and have been able to work from my hometown since.”
MSQ members can read more about Dion in her Midsteeple People profile, which features in our latest newsletter, emailed on Monday April 10th, 2023. If you’re a member and haven’t received yours, please let us know by emailing info@midsteeplequarter.org.
We’re always looking to recruit more members to Midsteeple Quarter as we work to breathe new life into Dumfries town centre as part of a stronger future underpinned by community ownership and grassroots decision-making. Please click here to find out more about becoming a member.