We are seeking funding to transform the historic site of Dundee’s first Calendar Works into a vibrant, youth-led community café and heritage hub. This innovative project, led by Helm’s Youth Collective, will revitalise an underused space into a warm, inclusive indoor and outdoor café with a Mediterranean feel, while also celebrating local history through guided heritage tours.
Description
Local Priorities the project will meet: - Urban improvements incorporating environmental seating and shelters
We are seeking funding to transform the historic site of Dundee’s first Calendar Works into a vibrant, youth-led community café and heritage hub. This innovative project, led by Helm’s Youth Collective, will revitalise an underused space into a warm, inclusive indoor and outdoor café with a Mediterranean feel, while also celebrating local history through guided heritage tours. The project will deliver real-world skills, create employment opportunities, and foster community cohesion, with young people at the heart of its design, delivery, and growth.
This project will provide:
• 15–20 young people engaged annually in meaningful training and employment roles.
• Increased footfall and community engagement with the Helm site.
• Greater public awareness of the area’s heritage through regular tours and public programming.
• A transformed, safe, and attractive outdoor space supporting tourism and wellbeing.
• Sustainable income generation through café and tour sales supporting future wages.
Currently underused and largely hidden from public awareness, the Calendar Works is Dundee’s first of its kind — a building of significant local heritage with untapped potential. The adjacent courtyard, once overshadowed by a derelict neighbouring property, will be reimagined with Mediterranean-style touches: bistro seating, palm plants, wall art, and canopy lighting, creating a welcoming space for people of all ages to gather, relax, and connect.
Alongside the café, young people will develop and lead guided heritage walking tours, bringing the rich industrial history of the site and surrounding area to life. Training in hospitality and heritage interpretation will be delivered by Helm staff and our partners at Dundee Dark Tours, ensuring young people gain high-quality, transferable skills rooted in real-world experience.
With young people leading every stage — from design to delivery — the Helm Café & Heritage Hub will become a powerful model of youth empowerment, heritage celebration, and community transformation at the heart of Dundee.
Many of the young people we support at Helm face significant barriers to education, employment, and social inclusion. These include care experience, mental health challenges, neurodiversity, and a lack of stable support networks. What they need most are meaningful opportunities to build skills, confidence, and connection — in spaces where they feel ownership and belonging.
Through this project, young people will help bring the site back to life by creating a café and heritage hub that is inclusive, vibrant, and rooted in local identity. It will provide:
Real-world employment and enterprise pathways for young people through training, volunteering, and paid roles
A safe and inspiring community space that encourages social connection and wellbeing
The activation of local heritage through youth-led walking tours and storytelling
We are working in close partnership with Dundee Historic Environment Trust (DHET) and Dundee Dark Tours (DDT) to deliver this project. Both organisations bring significant expertise and credibility in local heritage, and are fully behind the vision of a youth-led community café and heritage hub.
In particular, Dundee Dark Tours have generously offered to deliver free professional heritage interpretation training to our young people. This will equip them with the confidence and skills needed to research, design, and lead walking tours celebrating the Calendar Works and surrounding area — offering the community a fresh, authentic insight into Dundee’s past, through the eyes of its future.
DHET has also committed to supporting the project’s development, ensuring our heritage offer aligns with best practice and wider city priorities. Their endorsement not only adds value to the initiative but connects us to a growing network of local historians, archivists, and heritage professionals who are excited about the project’s potential.
In addition, we are engaging local businesses, Helm staff, volunteers, and our Helm Youth Collective, who are central to the project’s design and delivery. Young people have already contributed ideas for the courtyard layout, branding, and menu, and will take ownership of day-to-day operations, supported by trained staff and local mentors.
This joined-up approach — combining youth leadership with expert guidance and community support — is key to the long-term sustainability of the café and heritage hub. Income from the café and paid tours will be reinvested into youth training and jobs, while ongoing partnerships will provide routes into further volunteering, employment, and education.
Ultimately, this project is about placing young people at the heart of local regeneration — restoring a hidden heritage site, creating new social enterprise opportunities, and building pride of place. The strong community partnerships we’ve already secured reflect wide-ranging belief in this vision and a shared commitment to making it a success.
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