News | Posted 2 July 2025
Mill O’Mains revealed as the proposed site for the Dundee village
A site in Mill O’Mains has been chosen because it is well-suited to the Village’s aims of community-focused recovery.
Social Bite has announced the proposed location for a vital recovery village for Dundee. The former bowling green offers serene greenspace and is well connected to the local community and transport links. Social Bite is now running a community consultation process ahead of submitting a planning application in the coming months.
Information for local residents
Building on the success of the Edinburgh village
With the support of The WM Sword Charitable Trust, the Bill Sword Social Bite Recovery Village will provide a beautiful, innovative and highly supported residential community for vulnerable people struggling with addiction. The Village will have 10 single-occupancy modern “nest houses” and a 10-bed shared accommodation facility. There will also be a community hub for peer and staff support, wellbeing activities and family time.
The Bill Sword Recovery Village will build on the success of Social Bite’s Edinburgh village, where more than 100 people have lived to date. In a survey in 2020, 86% of residents said their time at the village had helped them build new relationships and improved their well-being. The Dundee project will expand the focus from homelessness to supporting a range of vulnerable people struggling with addiction.
Josh Littlejohn MBE, founder of Social Bite, said:
“It is fantastic to be able to share more details of what will be an incredible facility for Dundee. We know that there is a big problem with drug deaths in Scotland and Dundee. The impact on families and individuals can be devastating. Our aim is to build a facility that will help people who have begun their journey towards recovery by giving them a supportive and safe place to live with expert support. We are starting to engage the local community so that they can input into the plans and learn about this amazing dedicated, state-of-the art recovery facility.
“We hope the village will become a significant part of the recovery services locally and become a pioneering facility in Scotland. We also hope it becomes a place that the people of Dundee and beyond will feel proud of because of what it can achieve for people struggling with addiction.”
Furthering Bill Sword’s legacy
The WM Sword Charitable Trust has made a £1.5million pledge towards the project in memory of the benefactor of the trust, the late Bill Sword, a well-known entrepreneur in Dundee. The Insights Foundation is also generously backing the project with £100,000 of additional support.
Lynne Henderson, Trustee of The WM Sword Charitable Trust, said: “This is a project that we believe will be a fantastic addition to Dundee. There is a real need for the work unfortunately, but we think the proposals will deliver the best possible care for people in recovery.
“The support we have received since we revealed the idea of a Recovery Village shows us that the city is ready to get behind and become proud of it as it gets up and running.
“My father was incredibly proud of Dundee and he would have been delighted to know that the fruits of his many businesses were now going to help Dundonians.”
A therapeutic community
Social Bite, in partnership with Dundee City Council, worked to identify the best potential site for the village. The plot of land in DD4 is a safe, serene environment for up to 20 men and women to recover and reintegrate into the community.
Local recovery organisations and groups with lived experience of addiction have helped to inform the design of the village. To live in the village, residents must be stable in their recovery journey and show they want to make positive changes, like starting education or finding a job.
The Village will be run as a therapeutic community model which will create an environment where shared values, social relationships and group sessions will be used to help residents through their recovery journeys. It will be a supported community, so there will always be staff onsite. Social Bite will commission a local charity to provide a highly skilled and experienced staffing team. Residents will primarily come from Dundee with any spare capacity able to be utilised by other Scottish local authorities.
Tackling drug deaths in Dundee
The number of drug-related deaths in Scotland has more than doubled over the last decade. Across Scotland there was a hugely concerning rise in the number of deaths linked to drugs, with 1,172 recorded — up 121 from the previous year. Dundee and Fife recorded a spike in the number of drugs deaths in 2023, with Dundee having the second worst rate of drugs misuse deaths in the country over the last five years, behind only Glasgow.
There were 46 deaths linked to drugs in the City of Discovery in 2023, up eight on the previous year and a 92% increase on 2013. Deprivation often makes the crisis worse, with those in areas of poverty 16 times more likely to die from drug misuse.
Social Bite has organised drop-in sessions and engagement events in the local area in the coming weeks, where residents will get a chance to learn more about the Village and give feedback. The first will be at the Finmill Centre on July 10th at 9am and July 16th at 1pm.