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Architect in the Store
RIAS PR: Architect in the Store

Waverley Class: Grass & Glass
Waverley station in Edinburgh should be completely demolished and replaced by a grass and glass-covered structure, according to the latest plans from Network Rail.
The station’s grade A-listed booking hall would make way for a glass-roofed concourse on Waverley Bridge, giving passengers views of Edinburgh Castle and the Scott Monument.
Final proposals, due to be completed in July, are also expected to include a shopping level over at least part of the station. A new escalator link with Princes Street could also replace the Waverley Steps….The new station could be partially grass covered, to create a garden or public open space - part of a "green valley" between Old and New Towns, harking back to the Nor Loch there before the railways arrived.
29.05.03

Shrubbery
Wimpey's Shrub Place proposal unanimously rejected by Council Planning Committee.
28.05.03

Technopole
“The latest phase of Edinburgh Technopole, the science park jointly developed by the University of Edinburgh and property company Grosvenor, was officially opened last week.
It presents itself as beginning to meet the demand for purpose-built facilities for Scotland’s science and technology sectors - and it promises "very flexible leases" to meet changing requirements.
The latest opening was of Charles Darwin House, a speculative £5m development providing urgently-needed high quality, purpose-built facilities.
The building, on the 126-acre Bush Estate south of Edinburgh, offers 38,000 sq ft of space, with IndigoVision already planning to occupy 14,500 sq ft.“ 27.05.03

Leith Skyhouse
David Marks, who designed the London Eye, is expected to visit Leith later this week to investigate whether the area is suitable for his new affordable "Skyhouse" plans. Marks will host a lecture on the London Eye in Edinburgh on Thursday
27.05.03

Identkit
Edinburgh conference on designing buildings for children and young people: PPP Schools
25.05.03

Planning objection
Plans to give everyone in Scotland the right to appeal against building projects have been condemned as a ‘meddler’s charter’ that will damage the nation’s economy. Currently anyone can object to a construction proposal in the early stages but only developers have the legal right to challenge the decision of a council. Ministers are consulting on a new law that will allow any person to appeal any planning decision - from a house extension to a new motorway - even if not directly affected.
25.05.03

Nominations
Two of ARCADE's projects in Edinburgh - Flora Stevenson's Nursery and Mossman Houses have been nominated for the Scottish Design Awards

Wimpey's plans for Shrub Place
Wimpey's fifth application - with recommended approval again - for LRT site to be discussed 28 May by CEC's Development Quality Subcommittee

Burrell + Places for the People
Waterfront Edinburgh, the City Council-run project to develop the capital’s Granton area, has signed a £60 million deal with Edinburgh’s Burrell Company to build 500 homes on the site: Granton Strand
20.05.03

Trail Blazer
Malcolm Fraser revealed his vision for the renewal of the site. Martin Hulse, the director of the Cockburn Association, said: "It is fantastic that Malcolm Fraser is involved. The South Bridge elevation must be stone. South Bridge is down on its knees and this needs to be the catalyst".
17.05.03

Bryant Homes + Malcolm Fraser Architects
Despite the sad loss of an already-gutted Morris & Steedman building, this is a very positive development, with both Malcolm Fraser and Richard Murphy working on housing developments with major housebuilders: more of this please. Heritage groups are fighting to save a former city hospital wing facing demolition despite being hailed a "60s icon". Developers want to bulldoze the listed building on the old Princess Margaret Rose Hospital site to make way for 25 luxury apartments being designed by one of the city’s leading architects…..The B-listed building, designed by the celebrated architects Morris and Steedman and completed in 1965,… Bryant Homes’ plans will have to approved by the Scottish Executive if they win the backing of the council.
15.05.03

Step on the gas?
Ken Shuttleworth, of Foster and Partners at Edinburgh’s Gallery of Modern Art to encourage Scottish architects to submit designs for around 560 houses that will fit within his overall masterplan for redevelopment of the 110-acre site at Granton: Waterfront Edinburgh

Best Building in Scotland 2003
The closing date for entries to the RIAS Award for Architecture, Best Building in Scotland is 30 May 2003

Building Schools for the Future
Malcolm Fraser Architects' new nursery for Cornbank St James Primary School, Penicuik for Midlothian Council
12.05.03

ERI: absolutely
Malcolm Fraser has said the new location at Little France is isolated and is handy for nothing except ringroad cars. He said: While the old building was no classic, the belief of its designers in the healing power of good architecture was obvious. Fingers of wards stretch south into the parkland of the Meadows, fresh air and a view of nature from each bed clearly being understood to aid recovery. The new Edinburgh Royal Infirmary building must have had a brief delivered by truck. It’s built down in a dank hollow around mean courtyards that will never see the sun with wee, zipped-up windows and lots of mechanical ventilation.
10.05.03

Centrica
Ken Shuttleworth of Foster & Partners is due to address architects at a breakfast event on May 16 to talk about design values for the residential plots at the site: contact Waterfront Edinburgh for details

Centrica / Scottish Gas HQ Topping Out ceremony at SecondSite's ForthQuarter site was on 29 Apr 03: Press Release

Meadowbank: refurbish
In a sea of mediocrity, the powerful forms of Meadowbank Stadium should be retained and upgraded. To the East we have the dull hulks of empty St Margaret’s House and Meadowbank House; across the road we have Macdonalds and six ugly ‘sheds’ that have absolutely no place so close to our great city centre and which should be replaced urgently. Such central land should have much higher density development, these sheds are indefensible at the Jewel, but beyond belief here. They should go, not the stadium.
10.05.03

Lagoons: saved
Queen Margaret University College shelved plans for a multi-million pound development at the Musselburgh Lagoons w/e 11.05.03. QMUC acknowledged protests from environmental & civic groups about the effect on wildlife expressed during a public consultation earlier this year; proposed buildings will be 'switched' to its new campus at Old Craighall, just inside the East Lothian / Edinburgh boundary
10.05.03

REH: psychiatric
Atkins win contract to oversee the building of Edinburgh’s £65m mental health hospital.
11.05.03

Blackburn: saved
Blackburn House is on the verge of becoming Scotland’s premier location for filming box office hits under a £3m project which will see the mansion completely refurbished.
09.05.03

Blackfriars: save
"A city arts impresario has called for urgent action to stop a historic church falling further into disrepair. Edinburgh-based artist and theatre director Richard Demarco owned Blackfriars Church between 1986 and 1993 during which time he spent £40,000 on restoration work to get it back into prime condition. He then sold it to the Italian Consulate who announced last year that they planned to create a new £2m cultural centre in the building".
05.05.03

Archerfield: convert
The restoration of historic Archerfield House, part of plans for a £55m golfing development west of Dirleton, took a twist this week after plans emerged to convert the house into 7 flats. The original plan was to turn the mansion into a luxury clubhouse. The development, by Caledonian Heritable Ltd, started in 2002: plans include a 180-bedroom, five-star hotel, two golf courses and a health spa
09.05.03

Amisfield: reprieved?
Proposals for 400 new homes on the north bank of the Tyne - on part of Amisfield Mains farm - are likely to be looked on unfavourably by planners as the lower part of the fields are prone to flooding.

RSA: architecture in its place
“One of the virtues of the City Art Centre as a venue is that architecture is not dismissed to a ghetto as it is in the RSA building, but is displayed alongside everything else. This is particularly appropriate with the submission of the project An Turas by Sutherland Hussey Architects. It is sited on Tiree and the architects have worked with Jake Harvey, Donald Urquhart, Glen Onwin and Sandra Kennedy to create a remarkable piece of walk-in sculpture, or perhaps a building that is an artwork. We’ll be hearing more about this when it opens later in the year
06.05.03

Northern over-exposure

http://news.scotsman.com
03.05.03

Restoration?
Richard Murphy Architects article re proposed 'Big Brother'-style BBC2 architecture programme in the Times Ecosse May 4, p.2
see also news 17.04.03

THE CLOCKTOWER, Holyrood, Edinburgh
The Clocktower project has now received Planning Permission & Building Warrant and will start on site shortly: Edinburgh Clocktower

RIAS Convention 2003
MAKING CONNECTIONS
8 - May
Adam Caruso of Caruso St John and Farshid Moussavi of Foreign Office Architects Ltd are due to speak at the RIAS Convention, Albert Halls, Stirling

Innovation Fund
St Mary's Primary School, Haddington - Playwall - now completed

description online w/c 5 May

Fairmilehead
Richard Murphy Architects have submitted a planning application for 23 flats on the site of the current Fairmilehead Inn in Fairmilehead on the outskirts of Edinburgh.
The project is for AMA New Town Ltd (as per RMA’s Cramond Housing and Reiach & Hall Architects’ Westport) and will form a gateway to Edinburgh for those arriving on the Biggar road or from the bypass. The site is a southwards sloping site with spectacular views of the Pentland Hills and all flats will take great advantage of that opportunity.

John Muir Visitors Centre at Dunbar
John Muir Birthplace is to be open from Sat 26 Jul (Lifeboat Day in Dunbar); the official opening won't be until next year, probably in April on the 116th anniversary of Muir's birth.
Richard Murphy’s project for the John Muir Visitors Centre at Dunbar is well underway and is currently ahead of schedule. The internal steel frame is in place and cladding has begun.

Edinburgh News



SouthBridge
continuing the resource: recent pictures of Old Town Fire Site.
02.05.03

Lady Lawson Street
£15 m luxury 180-bedroom Novotel under construction by Crerar & Partners: heritage watchdogs have branded the hotel’s design "dull": Novotel Edinburgh
08.05.03

Edinburgh Architecture Books



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