Funded through the Heritage Enterprise programme, shops and craft spaces will be coupled with tourist accommodation as part of an ‘artisan quarter’, celebrating the site’s historic purpose as a place of manufacturing thanks to both the slate quay and iron works that once dominated the waterfront.

The Island Site is being visited today by the HLF Chair, Sir Peter Luff, who said: “Heritage can transform areas and make them better places to live in, work in and visit, and it is absolutely vital that we continue to secure its future at the heart of our communities.

“Not only do heritage projects like this one at Caernarfon create jobs, support skills and boost the local economy, but they make a lasting difference to people’s lives by creating new economic strongholds that are as relevant today as their predecessors were a hundred or more years ago.”

[quote=Sir Peter Luff, HLF Chair]“Heritage can transform areas and make them better places to live in..."[/quote]

The Heritage Enterprise programme’s sole purpose is to support economic growth by investing in neglected historic buildings and bringing them back into commercial use. By working with not-for-profit organisations, Heritage Enterprise also encourages private sector investment as well as levering in additional funding from government and local authorities.

Lying at the gateway to Snowdonia National Park and nestled between a world-famous castle and the Welsh Highland Railway, Caernarfon boasts a unique waterfront steeped in centuries of history. In former years slate was unloaded on the quay before being sent around the world for roofing, and iron was forged before being used in such historic buildings as the Tower of London and Westminster Abbey by Brunswick Ironworks.

Now, thanks to National Lottery players, Caernarfon waterfront can once again become home to Welsh craftsmen of the 21st century, helping knit modern Caernarfon together with its proud industrial heritage.