THE Citizens Theatre in Glasgow is to be offered a new 99-year lease for its famous location in The Gorbals to help secure its future for drama lovers.

The Citizens, one of Scotland's oldest theatres, which is planning its biggest revamp since it opened in 1878 as the Royal Princess's Theatre, received the boost from the city council.

The authority's executive committee is to recommend the lease continues while also making a £4 million contribution towards the theatre's forthcoming £16m redevelopment.

The move will allow the Citizens to overhaul its offices, backstage areas and utilities using a design by Edinburgh-based architects Bennetts Associates, which will again reveal the original stone walls of the Victorian theatre.

Council officials believe the revamp will lead to a "high quality, sustainable building that will add a new piece of landmark architecture to the city."

The theatre, which is listed on the city's Common Good fund, is making funding requests, one to the Heritage Lottery Fund for £1.9m and one to Heritage Scotland for £500,000.

An award of £500,000 was made earlier in the year by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation.

The proposals to back a new lease and the injection of funds will be put before the council executive committee next Thursday.

Bailie Liz Cameron, executive member for jobs and the economy at Glasgow City Council, said: "The Citizens Theatre has been a key part of Glasgow's cultural life for 70 years, and the council has long supported the great work of the theatre.

"In order to take the next step of the theatre's life, we will do what we can to ensure that additional sources of capital funding can be made available. The approval in principle of a 99-year lease will allow this next step to be made."

Work on the first phase of the redevelopment, costed at around £10m, is due to begin in 2017.

Administrative director Anna Stapleton said: "The proposal to grant a 99-year lease will give us the security we need to approach funding bodies, to help raise the funds required for this ambitious project, with complete confidence."

The Bennetts design opens up the 4740 sq metres of the theatre without greatly expanding it, but makes improved use of its space.

It will re-utilise many redundant or cramped internal spaces, bring disabled access to all floors, and establish one new building on the south side of the site.

The much-loved auditorium, which is grade-two listed, will not be dramatically altered, but the steeply angled stage, which is raked at 1:17 will be lowered to 1:24, allowing for more productions with movement and dance.

The theatre has a stellar cast of alumni, with actors such as Rupert Everett, Tim Roth, Gary Oldman, Pierce Brosnan, Alan Rickman and Glenda Jackson treading its boards, among many others.

And it has one of the best artistic directors in the UK, in Londoner Dominic Hill.

The building has long needed upgrading, its offices and backstage areas need modernising, and its central foyer and revolving door entrance are dated.

The papers to the committee give permission to officers to negotiate the terms of the lease, which could see the "peppercorn" rent of £1250 per year increase. It has not been reviewed since 1955.

The current lease is historic, dating back to the 1950s and continuing by "annual tacit relocation" since the late 1970s.

City Property is currently liaising with council legal officials on whether or not the consent of the Court of Session is required for a new long-term lease.

The papers suggest that since the property has been leased since 1955, without challenge, this should not be necessary.