** BREAKING NEWS **  The Bernat Klein Studio has been saved! This morning [Wed 30 July 2025] the coalition of Scottish heritage organisations secured the property at auction with a winning bid of £279,000. The studio will now be restored, creating a new venue to inspire creative arts in the Scottish Borders, bringing the building back into public and community use. C20 Society looks forward to working closely with the project team as it develops.

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C20 Society is backing a coalition of leading Scottish heritage and design organisations that have joined forces to save and restore one of Scotland’s most significant modernist buildings, as it is put up for sale by public auction at the end of the month.

Designed in 1972 by renowned modernist architect Peter Womersley, the Category A listed Bernat Klein Studio near Selkirk is one of Scotland’s most important twentieth-century buildings and was once the beating heart of the textile industry in the Borders. Yet the Studio has lain empty and semi-derelict for more than 20 years, with its deteriorating state of growing concern. It was highlighted in C20’s Risk List campaign in 2015 and has been on Historic Environment Scotland Buildings at Risk Register since 2002.

£2-3 million costs

A condition survey and structural assessment instructed by Scottish Borders Council in 2023 revealed a building with significant and myriad issues from its prolonged vacancy, water-damage, deterioration, and acts of vandalism. Estimates of restoration costs undertaken by specialist advisers are a minimum of £2.5 – £3 million.

The Bernat Klein Foundation (BKF), National Trust for Scotland, and Scottish Historic Buildings Trust (SHBT), have launched a coalition bid, supported by The National Lottery Heritage Fund, to buy the building and create a new venue to inspire creative arts in the Scottish Borders, bringing the building back into public and community use.

Initially, the priority is to secure ownership of the property and prevent further deterioration. The National Lottery Heritage Fund’s support gives the coalition the confidence to back a competitive bid for the building and have a plan for much-needed emergency repairs.

To give the coalition the best chance of success in acquiring the building at auction, SHBT has launched an urgent fundraising appeal to raise as much support as possible. Click here for more information and to donate.

Bernat Klein

The Serbian-born designer Bernat Klein (1922-2014) emigrated to the UK in the postwar period and based his textile manufacturing business in the Borders. He found success across many spheres including fine art, fashion, textile design, architecture, industrial design and colour consultancy. He designed collections for many famous fashion houses including Chanel and Dior. In addition to the Studio, architect Peter Womerslery (1923-1993) also designed a nearby house, High Sunderland (1957), for Klein and his family.

C20 Society had the privilege of visiting both the Studio and High Sunderland in 2002. Bernat and Margaret Klein welcomed our group and showed us both buildings, walking us from one to the other through the beautiful landscape which had clearly been intensely inspirationally to their work. We returned in 2023 with Professor Neil Jackson to mark the publication of his book Peter Womersley in our Twentieth Century Architects Series, which was published in Womersley’s centenary year – click here to order from the C20 Shop.

Comments

Catherine Croft, C20 Director:

“I am delighted that the Bernat Klein Studio Coalition has been formed to buy and restore this amazing building. The combined skills and expertise of the Bernat Klein Foundation (BKF), the National Trust for Scotland and Scottish Historic Buildings Trust (SHBT) are just what is needed, and I can think of no better outcome for one of Scotland’s seemingly most intractable heritage challenges. The proposals will not only sympathetically address the very extensive decay and structural issues caused by decades of neglect, but will also ensure public access and tell the stories of a remarkable client and an outstanding architect, both of whom had a huge impact on the Borders region and far beyond.

This is definitely not a project to be undertaken lightly, or without a huge depth of specialist expertise and very considerable financial resources. Concrete repair is especially challenging and we look forward to supporting the Coalition with what we are sure will be an exemplar scheme.”