Work will start this month on the development of the Scottish Jewish Heritage Centre at Glasgow's Garnethill Synagogue following today's announcement of a Lottery grant of almost £300,000.

The grant to the Scottish Jewish Archives Centre and Garnethill Synagogue Preservation Trust unlocks other pledged financial support, meaning the total capital cost of £465,000 is now in place.

Features of the centre will include a Holocaust era study facility giving access to the SJAC's collections from the period and a display on survivors and refugees from Nazism who built new lives in Scotland.

The intention is also to open up the Victorian synagogue - the oldest in Scotland - to the wider public with volunteer-led tours on the building's history, architecture and key early 19th century congregants. There will additionally be school visits, weekend activities and a local heritage trail.

Computer-based resources will include a catalogue of around 2,000 items from the SJAC's Holocaust period collections and digital access to the early editions of the Glasgow-based Jewish Echo newspaper.

The centre is scheduled to open in the summer of 2019 and the Garnethill congregation will continue to worship on the site.

Welcoming the Heritage Lottery Fund grant of £296,900, SJAC chair Dr Kenneth Collins looked forward to establishing "an important educational, research, community and tourist resource for Scotland”.