Development Edinburgh

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Advocate's Close Development

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Gilmours Close Refurbishment

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Architect couple complete wheelchair friendly ramp house
http://www.urbanrealm.com/news/4086/...amp_house.html
28 MARCH

BDP architect Ian McMillan and his wife Thea McMillan of chambersmcmillan, have completed a wheelchair friendly family home for themselves and their eight year old daughter.

Situated in Portobello, Edinburgh, the home is defined by its spacious entrance ramp which allows easy access to an upper level, enabling the family to live together in a building which serves all their needs.

Budgeted at £250k the custom built home was spurred by a desire to minimise the amount of dead space associated with a clumsy ‘bolted on’ ramp by placing the requirement at the heart of the design process.

Writing on her blog McMillan commented on life within his new home by saying: “Since moving in, we have had so many comments from friends and visitors that the ramp makes the house: on the one hand that they are not aware of it being an obviously ‘accessible’ house, but on the other hand how wonderful it is to have a ramp in a house (and could they have one too?).

“I think it is because the ramp makes you move around the house differently, and also because of the way that we have designed spaces off the ramp, these spaces connect, both visually and physically, differently.”

[Graham]

Haymarket Development

A £200m development with hotel, offices and shops is to be built in Edinburgh's Haymarket in the summer, following several years of delay.

Original plans for a 17-storey hotel next to Haymarket station were scaled down following local protests.

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http://www.urbanrealm.com/news/4121/...i_revival.html

Edinburgh’s long dormant residential market could soon awaken from its slumber with the recent approval of four significant schemes, all of them penned by EMA Architecture + Design.

This week alone the practice has secured permission for a scheme at Ocean Drive, Leith, on behalf of Cala Homes and a separate venture known as Urban Oasis at Lochend Butterfly, a scheme being delivered in conjunction with Smith Scott Mullan for Places for People Developments.

Inspired by the high density housing prevalent Ijburg area of Amsterdam Ocean Drive North will deliver 41 townhouses along the listed dock edge, each of which will open onto a series of private deck spaces arranged around a traditional lane.

Urban Oasis meanwhile will offer 205 homes within a ‘dense urban village’ with a reinterpretation of colony housing at its heart triangulated by three nine storey point blocks. The design also reinstates connections across three railway lines to knit the awkward plot into the surrounding urban fabric.

Both approvals follow hot on the heels of a planning double last month, when EMA secured approval for 65 flats and colony houses at McDonald Road in the city centre for Foremost Developments together with yet another scheme to deliver 110 new homes on greenbelt land at Edmonstone.

In recent weeks the practice has also submitted revised plans for the long-dormant Shrubhill site off Leith Walk.

It is anticipated that the four schemes will move on site in accordance with the below calendar:

McDonald Road - 1 May 2013
Edmonstone Estate - June 2013
Ocean Drive North - July 2013
Urban Oasis Lochend Butterfly - Q3 2013

Ocean Drive North

McDonald Road

Edmonstone Estate

Lochend Butterfly

[Graham]

Edinburgh Evening News - 22nd June, 2013


A masterplan has been launched to show how greenbelt land owned by Sir David Murray would be transformed into a £1 billion “garden district”.

Expert planners have spent three years drawing up the designs – which include 3500 family homes, university and business villages and a Scottish national garden, which would be built beyond the bypass in west Edinburgh.

The new commuter hub would be the jewel in the crown of the former Rangers owner.

Murray Estates, which controls more than 675 acres of land to the west of the city, wants to develop the urban district to incorporate a new high school, three primary schools and other local amenities.

The 60-acre garden complex, dubbed the Calyx, would boast themed green areas, water features and research facilities as part of a £25 million concept.

A sports hub could become a new home for Edinburgh Rugby under the plans.

The business village would see 1500 homes built in walking distance of Edinburgh Park and the International Business Gateway in the hope of attracting staff and their families to live there, lifting pressure on the city’s transport network.

Similarly, the university village with 1400 properties is so-called because of its close proximity to Heriot Watt.

Developers say the proposals, close to the RBS headquarters at Gogarburn and the Gyle shopping centre, would create 900 jobs.

Jestyn Davies, managing director of Murray Estates, said the latest designs had been the direct result of extensive public consultation.

“We asked the public what they wanted and this is what they came back with,” he said. “The proposals are the culmination of many years’ careful planning, ensuring they blend perfectly as a natural extension to the west of Edinburgh, providing quality family housing, sporting and leisure facilities and through the Calyx, a new world-class tourist attraction and National Garden for Scotland.”

The property giants believe the new homes – a quarter of which would be affordable housing – would help to alleviate the shortage in the city. Scottish Government directives mean the council must build 71,000 new homes by 2033.

Mr Davies argued the development of an urban centre was a more efficient way of creating the homes than adding “100 here and 100 there” and development of greenbelt land was now a necessity, as demonstrated on the council’s most recent Local Development Plan.

He said: “I do not envy the dilemma faced by councillors, however everybody now accepts that the debate is about which parts of greenbelt should accommodate new housing, not whether greenbelt should be designated for housing.”

Brochures detailing the proposals have been sent to every councillor in the south east of Scotland. If planning permission is granted, the project is expected to take between 15 and 20 years to complete.

[Graham]

Urban Realm - June 6th, 2013

Work to complete a new community facility for Greyfriars Kirk in Edinburgh’s Old Town has been completed by Gareth Hoskins Architects.

A joint venture between Greyfriars, Tolbooth & Highland Kirk and the Grassmarket Mission the £1.4m project has seen the extension of the existing Kirkhouse to form a new teaching and outreach centre for the homeless community in the shadow of the famous A listed church yard.

This sees double height volumes inserted adjacent to the 8m tall Kirkyard wall with smaller cellular spaces located around the perimeter.

These spaces are illuminated by a series of monumental skylights rising like the tombstones from a sedum roof to imply a natural extension of the graveyard proper.

Offering wood-work, cookery and art classes the venue doubles as a lettable community hall in the place of three surplus industrial buildings.

[Graham]

Office Block in Morrison Street -- Complete

Before

After

As much as it stands out, & I do like Modern glass with old buildings, if it fits correctly.. It's a big improvement.

[Graham]

http://www.urbanrealm.com/news/4305/...all_plans.html

The University of Edinburgh has submitted a £3.4m plan to revamp the McEwan Hall by opening up a cavernous basement beneath the venue and introducing a new entrance from Bristo Square.