The £22m Ratho Adventure Centre, Scotland’s first dedicated adventure sports venue, has gone into receivership following a drought in visitor numbers – just six months after it opened.

Ratho, which opened last November with funding from the public and private sectors, hosted the climbing world cup and was hailed as the biggest investment in adventure sport in Europe.

While the majority of funding towards the construction and operation of the centre came from its designer, architect David Taylor – who invested £12m – and HBOS – which put in £10m – grants were also secured from SportScotland and Scottish Enterprise Edinburgh and Lothian for £1.25m and £250,000 respectively.

The 120,000sq ft complex, which is built on the site of a former quarry, cost £22m and boasts the world’s largest indoor climbing area – with 2.4sq km of climbing surface – a gym with a fitness studio and a sports therapy clinic. It was also home to the national judo centre.

In an attempt to increase visitor numbers by catering for both families and professional climbers, the centre was intending to open a health spa, saunas and steamrooms later this year, but plans have now been put on hold.

Despite estimates for 2004 hovering around Ratho’s original visitor target of 200,000 paying guests per year, the centre had to come to terms with the fact that it needed around 350,000 visitors a year to make a profit. The centre actually has the capacity to host 600,000.

Bosses admitted that, despite Ratho’s relatively good location – with 3.5million people within an hour’s travel time and being just 10 minutes from Edinburgh airport – the attraction was hard to access because of a lack of any public transport to the site.

Spokesperson, Alex Barr, said: “Ratho Adventure Centre continues to trade despite the recent developments. The receivers, Deloitte, are looking to save as many jobs as possible.”

Deloitte is aiming to sell the centre as a going concern. Details: www.adventurescotland.com