Edinburgh News October 2013: Buildings Lothians

Edinburgh News – October 2013 : Buildings in Scotland

Edinburgh News : October 2013

Lothian Building Developments, Eastern Scotland

Edinburgh Building News – October 2013

Lothian Architecture Designs – latest additions to this page, arranged chronologically:

Mactaggart and Mickel News
Family housebuilder Mactaggart & Mickel has reported a 48 per cent increase in turnover and a 78 per cent hike in profits before tax over the last financial year. Group turnover reached £56 million (2012: £38 million) with profits before tax of £2.4 million (2012: £1.35 million). The firm is one of the biggest contractors for the Commonwealth Games village. It has a £26.5m contract to build 225 of the 700 homes for athletes and for the games’ legacy. 31 Oct

V&A at Dundee Building News
Work on the foundations for £45m V&A at Dundee is nearing completion. After about three months of work the infilling of Craig Harbour is due to finish within weeks. Most of the material was recycled from the demolition of the Alexander Street multis and Tayside House. The site will form the foundations for the £45 million museum which is scheduled to open in 2016. 30 Oct

Scottish Homes News
Home builders respond to “positive indicator” as number of homes sold increases significantly in last quarter. Responding to Registers of Scotland figures for the third quarter of 2013 which indicate that the number of homes sold between July and September this year increased significantly on the same period last year. 30 Oct

Eastwood Health Centre Building
A new 6,000m² Eastwood Health and Care Centre in Glasgow designed by Gareth Hoskins Architects has gained planning permission. The building is expected to complete in early 2015. 30 Oct

Corstorphine Primary School Buildings
The £1.6m refurbishment and extension of Corstorphine Primary School has been completed, reports Urban Realm. The extension is clad in render, glazing and stone to complement an existing listed school building. The project was designed by Liam Riggans at The City of Edinburgh Council. 28 Oct

Scottish School Buildings
Miller Construction selected as preferred partner to deliver £200m programme of new schools across the North of Scotland. Projects include: Wick Community Campus, Wick North Primary School and Inverness Royal Academy for The Highland Council; Alford Community Campus for Aberdeenshire Council; Anderson High School and halls of residence for the Shetland Islands Council; plus other school projects currently at the early stages of development. 25 Oct

Edinburgh Architects Appointed for Museum Building
Kilmartin Museum has appointed Edinburgh architects Reiach and Hall to design a major expansion to their facilities. The museum is located four miles from Dunadd hill fort, the heart of the old Gaelic kingdom (Dál Riata). 24 Oct

Fort Kinnaird Expansion News
Work has started on the £24m retail extension of Fort Kinnaird retail park. A 7-screen Odeon cinema, 7 restaurants and 2 cafes are due to open in Spring 2015. 24 Oct

Aberdeen Infrastructure
Aberdeen City Council has promised five major infrastructure projects will be delivered to improve city roads by 2020. The administration is also looking for backing from the Scottish Government for a study into new plans for a tram system in the city. They should start with a visit to Edinburgh. 24 Oct

Aberdeen City Centre Building
Muse Developments has been chosen by the city council to deliver a civic square, offices, hotel and shops on the site of its former headquarters at St Nicholas House, which is currently being demolished. 30 Oct

Edinburgh Architect Shortlisted for RIBA Design Competition
This architecture competition sought design ideas for housing in the private rental market.
Andrew Stoane Architect one of four architects shortlisted, the only one from Scotland:
Private Rental Housing Design Competition news. 23 Oct

Roof Space Loophole
Alison Johnstone, a Green MSP, has called on the government to review a legal loophole which allows landlords of top-floor flats to build into communal roof space, reports BBC Scotland today. Some property developers have been converting tenements flats into larger properties for rent in Edinburgh in a bid to reap financial rewards. Edinburgh City Council does not require landlords to have planning permission to create an HMO flat out of a smaller property and communal roof space. 22 Oct

Green Belt Deal
Housing developers have vowed to build a new primary school in return for being allowed to build 600 homes on green-belt land, reports the Edinburgh Evening News today. The new school will get the go-ahead if planners approve the controversial proposals to build on land in the south of the city. David Wilson Homes and Clarendon Planning and Development, working with the Catchelraw Trust, has filed papers confirming it wishes to develop a site at Broomhills. 
The proposal comes after planners earmarked land close to Frogston Road East for between 425 and 595 dwellings, which would include a site for a new school to alleviate pressure on Gilmerton and Craigour Park ­primaries. 22 Oct

New Aberdeen Conference Centre
A new £200m concert and conference venue for Aberdeen could be developed, BBC Scotland reports today. The council want to invest in a replacement for the current Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre at the Bridge of Don – would continue to operate until the new venue was built, possibly by 2017, in Dyce. 18 Oct

EWH Calton Hill
Dugald Stewart Monument
photograph © Adrian Welch
Sunday 27 October : A day exploring the stories, ideas and traditions that have shaped this unique urban landscape. Calton Hill is one of the richest and strangest landscapes of Edinburgh – see Edinburgh Events page for details. 16 Oct

Aberdeen Urban Renewal
Sir Ian Wood has put his £50m back on the table for an Aberdeen city centre regeneration plan. However the oil tycoon insists new proposals – outlined by city architect John Halliday – must be “transformational”, reports the Press & Journal. Central to the Wood Family Trust funds is a firm assurance to cover the unsightly exposed Denburn Valley roadway and railway and the underused Union Terrace Gardens. 16 Oct

Benedetta Tagliabue Wins Jencks Award
The Royal Institute of British Architects announces that architect Benedetta Tagliabue is the recipient of the 2013 RIBA Jencks Award. The award will be presented on 19 Nov at the RIBA in London, where she will give a public lecture, chaired by Charles Jencks. 15 Oct

Adam Dudley
We are sorry to post this sad news: after a short but courageous battle with cancer, Adam Dudley passed away at his home on Saturday evening. He continued to work passionately throughout his chemotherapy treatment, showing his positive fighting spirit right to the end.
The funeral will be this Friday 18th October at 2 p.m. at Warriston Crematorium, Lorimer Chapel. All are welcome. No flowers please, at Adam’s request. There is a blog where messages of condolence can be made to Adam’s family, www.caringbridge.org/visit/adamdudley

Linlithgow Palace
Linlithgow Palace is offering visitors the unique opportunity to see the historic site after dark, at 7:30pm, 8:30pm and 9:30pm on 25 and 26 Oct and 1 and 2 Nov, the palace will host a series of ‘Fright Nights’. Tickets must be booked in advance and cost £10 with a 10% discount for Historic Scotland members. Visit www.historic-scotland.gov.uk/events to purchase tickets. 15 Oct

Portobello High School News
Portobello High School Building – the park where council chiefs want to build the new school is apparently “empty 99 per cent of the time”. 14 Oct

New Fife Distillery Building
A new £6.7m distillery is to be established in Fife following a tie-up between Indian drinks group Kyndal and Perthshire distiller John Fergus & Co, reports the BBC today. The two firms have entered into a joint venture for a micro distillery and bonded warehouse in Glenrothes which could be operational by 2015. The facility will focus on exporting. 14 Oct

Building the rented sector in Scotland
With an estimated 465,000 new homes needed in Scotland by 2035 to cope with expected demand, the rental sector has a key role to place in meeting the country’s diverse housing needs and achieving a balanced tenure mix. 14 Oct

How to attract new sources of investment to help expand this growing sector is the focus of major research currently being conducted by housing finance experts from the Cambridge Centre for Housing & Planning Research and LSE London.

The team undertaking the project, led by industry body Homes for Scotland with the support of the Scottish Government and Construction Scotland, believes that the targeting of pension funds and other institutions could help deliver new, high quality, sustainable homes for rent at significant sale.

Homes for Scotland Chief Executive Philip Hogg said:
“Given continuing economic constraints, we need to look at ways we can attract additional finance to help increase housing investment. To do this effectively, we first need to fully understand the needs of investors and develop an approach that will attract them to the Scottish residential market. This is what the team from the Cambridge Centre for Housing & Planning Research and LSE London are assisting us with.”

The research findings will be announced at a special conference in Edinburgh on Wednesday 20 November with Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon as keynote speaker.

Visit http://www.brs-scotland.co.uk for more details.

RICS Scotland Launch Scottish Housing Commission
RICS Scotland has announced the launch of a Scottish Housing Commission which will assess the current health of the Scottish housing market and the consequential challenges it faces.
Established by RICS Scotland, it will make practical recommendations to public policy makers and industry leaders to help improve Scotland’s housing market across all tenures.
The independent Commission is made up of cross-sector experts within the housing industry and, through written and oral evidence provided by industry representatives, will develop a recommendations report which will contain innovative, coherent and progressive recommendations that will help Scottish Government and cross-sector policy makers meet today’s Scottish housing challenge.
The Commission Panel is made up of an authoritative array of sector experts from all housing arenas, including: social housing, academia, public sector and private industry. The Scottish Housing Commission findings will be published in a report launched at the RICS Scotland Residential Conference on 30 January 2014 at the Double Tree Hilton, Dunblane. 11 Oct

Royal Edinburgh Hospital New Campus
A major milestone has been reached for the redevelopment of the Royal Edinburgh Hospital campus development with the submission of the planning application on 9 Oct. The submission includes an application for planning permission in principle for the masterplan across the entire hospital site as well as for the initial 15,400sqm phase one redevelopment under a detailed application.

The planning application follows a public consultation which took place in June 2013. Phase one of the project will provide a £48m state-of-the-art facility providing accommodation for the adult acute mental health inpatient service, Intensive Psychiatric Care Unit (IPCU), the Robert Fergusson national brain injury unit, mental health rehabilitation and older people’s mental health assessment and treatment services. The redevelopment of the hospital site will be undertaken in partnership with Hub South East Scotland Ltd. The redevelopment is planned to be undertaken in phased stages, beginning with phase one.

The projected timescale for completion of phase one is 2017. The whole project may take up to ten years. The redevelopment will also consider the inclusion of potential services from other hospital sites such as Astley Ainslie Hospital. The outline business case is expected to be presented at NHS Lothian’s next board meeting on 23 October 2013, two months ahead of schedule. 10 Oct

Angus Golf Resort
Plans for the Forbes of Kingennie site, near Wellbank, have been explained in more detail by developers. Hardies LLP has applied for permission on behalf of MAP Property and Leisure Developments. The proposal is for an 18-hole championship-standard golf course, golf academy and hotel. A planning application for the hotel is being considered by Angus Council. A design and access statement claimed from a distance the structure is intended to “resemble the silhouettes of agricultural forms”, specifically “the barns that can be found dotted across the north-east of Scotland”. The 180-bedroom hotel would feature function spaces, leisure and spa facilities and executive business suites. The site would occupy almost 130 hectares. A decision must be reached on the application by the start of February 2014. 10 Oct

Leith Townhouses
CALA Homes is moving forward with ‘Albert Dock at Ocean Drive’ in Leith. Work is now underway on 31 three and four bedroom townhouses. This waterside development is due to be launched in early 2014. 9 Oct

St Nicholas House Progress
The demolition of the 13 storey St Nicholas House tower in Aberdeen started on 8 Oct. Scaffolding is being constructed around the chimney on top of the 1960s building, which formerly housed Aberdeen City Council’s headquarters. The chimney will be dismantled by hand, before machines are brought in to demolish the rest of the building. The 13-storey tower block, built in 1968, has lain empty since last year when the council moved to its new headquarters across the road in Broad Street to the refurbished Marischal College. 9 Oct

Armitstead House News
Plans submitted for redevelopment of Armitstead House, a Broughty Ferry mansion empty since 2008, into 26 homes. The proposal is by Adam and McPhail Chartered Architects for owners H&H Properties. This former children’s hospital – a late-19th Century villa – is on the Scottish Buildings at Risk Register. 8 Oct

Edinburgh Primary Schools News
Extension plans for ten Edinburgh primary schools, reports the Edinburgh Evening News today. The updated proposals for providing dozens of new teaching spaces at 10 primary schools is part of phase two of their £15 m Rising Rolls investment programme. Schools where the most extensive and potentially disruptive work will be carried out are St David’s RC and Craigour Park primaries. Expansion work to build five new classrooms at Stockbridge Primary could continue until 2018. 2 Oct

World Architecture Festival News
Updates from WAF 2013 but also from Frazer Hay who as many of you know is Programme Director GSofA Singapore (he is also an e-architect Editorial board member). Winners are online. 2-4 Oct

Sir Edwin Lutyens, the planning of New Delhi – Sunita Kohli
9 Oct 2013
The Asia Scotland Institute are delighted to welcome to Scotland as part of our Arts & Culture programming Sunita Kohli, a world-leading expert in historical architectural restoration from India, who has generously agreed to give an illustrated talk on the creation of the New Delhi by the British architect Sir Edwin Lutyens.
Venue: Business School, 29 Buccleuch Place, Edinburgh – see the Edinburgh Events page for more details.

£2bn Scottish New Town
Work starts on £2bn Chapelton of Elsick project in the Newtonhill area, Aberdeenshire The development has a long-term target of 8,000 homes. 2 Oct

Edinburgh Building News September 2013 – news in full from September 2013

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