GLASGOW’S famous “City of the Dead”, better known as the Necropolis Cemetery, and two major buildings in Edinburgh are to share in a £1.6 million investment to open them up to the public.

Castle Mill Works, the former North British Rubber Factory in Fountainbridge in Edinburgh, and the capital’s City Observatory on Calton Hill are to get six figure grants from Historic Scotland’s building repairs scheme.

The former will receive £500,000 towards the £10 million cost of turning Castle Mills into a new gallery and studio for Edinburgh Printmakers, while the latter, part of Edinburgh’s Unesco World Heritage Site, will receive £233,000 for the creation of an art gallery, café and event space to allow public access to the site for the first time.

The Necropolis in Glasgow is home to an important Jewish cemetery area that will be refurbished, with 15 headstones being restored, while a viewing area will be created.

The cemetery, which has 50,000 people buried on site, will also have its story told on interpretation panels, all at a cost of £13,000.

Eight sites across Scotland will share the grant, which is designed to increase community engagement at historic sites.

Westmuir Street School in Glasgow, St Andrews Harbour, Ferryhill engine shed in Aberdeen, Glasgow’s Alexandra Park and the Stovehouse in Auchincruive, South Ayrshire, will also benefit from the funding.

The grants were announced by Culture Secretary Fiona Hyslop on a visit to Castle Mill Works, where Edinburgh Printmakers want to create an internationally-recognised centre for excellence in printmaking and a hub for arts and community projects.

Hyslop said: “This scheme helps to protect and promote, as well as transform and bring back into use, some of Scotland’s most historically and architecturally significant buildings.

“This magnificent former Victorian factory in Fountainbridge is one of eight projects in total throughout Scotland to receive grant funding.”

Alastair Snow, chair of Edinburgh Printmakers, said: “We are delighted with this award from Historic Scotland and recognition of the heritage value of this building.”

Martin Ross, the policy and projects manager of Historic Scotland, said the popularity of the Building Repairs Grants Scheme shows an appetite across Scotland for restoring historical buildings.

“We have a massive over-subscription every time,” said Ross. “I think it is important to keep a link with community heritage.

“We always encourage, where possible, the re-use of an old building as opposed to a new build, particularly because of the longevity of old buildings.”

The North British Rubber Factory site at one point employed 8,000 people. Edinburgh Printmakers said recently that they were just £2m short of the £10m target for their scheme, which has also received funding from the Lottery.