Slateford Green Housing: Canmore Housing Association - Buildings Slateford Green Housing, Slateford Green, Edinburgh, by Hackland & Dore, Edinburgh

Slateford Green Housing, Scotland

Ideas competition, Slateford, Gorgie for a car-free urban village run by Canmore Housing Association Hackland & Dore Slateford Green Housing, Slateford Green, 1998-1999/2000 Ideas Competition - 1996 - open to Scottish & Dutch architects. First Prize from Shortlist of six in 1997. Slateford Green: image © Adrian Welch This car-free 'urban village' for the Canmore Housing Association sits on six hectares of former railway goods yard in the suburb of Gorgie. The traditional Scottish enclosed tenement is wrapped round a tear-shaped green space like 1930's German schemes by May or Taut. Inspired by the shapes of Skara Brae in Orkney and the Aran Isles of Eire the competition design was by Bryan Thomas and Andrew Lee, both of Hackland & Dore Architects. Slateford Green: image © Adrian Welch The Slateford Green project is one of the most sustainable and energy-efficient schemes in Edinburgh of the last few decades, and the district heating system uses waste heat from the local distillery. There are 120 flats, of which 25 are shared ownership, 60 for social rental by the Canmore Housing Association including 17 for those with hearing difficulties and 4 for wheelchair users. Slateford Green for Canmore: image from Hackland & Dore Ironically the Slateford Green design was almost refused planning permission by the City Council due to lack of car spaces despite being fully supported from the start by the City Council as the first of seven sites for housing to reduce car usage. Following acquisition by the Canmore Housing Association parking was reduced from 150% to 10%, influenced by the GWL Terrein masterplan in Amsterdam. Other influences included Ralph Erskine's Byker Wall social housing scheme in Newcastle, Japanese Edo frame techonology and Fumihiko Maki's YKK guest house in Kurabe. Slateford Green for Canmore: image from Hackland & Dore The District heating system borders the Slateford Green site and each flat is connected using stairwell ducts. This is complemented by rainwater collection, reed beds, wintergardens and passivent ventilation by stack effect. Slateford Green for Canmore: image from Hackland & Dore Only top Slateford Green image linked, apologies. Scottish Architecture: best Scottish Buildings of the last three decades Modern Houses Scottish Housing Edinburgh Walking Tours Edinburgh : back to index Canmore Housing Association, Edinburgh Despite the strong green credentials of this scheme Canmore Housing Association don't appear to have built anything since that surpasses or even matches this in terms of sustainability (2004); they deserve praise for considering ideas new to Edinburgh and following them to implementation. Canmore have recently worked with gm+ad on another strongly innovative project in north Edinburgh (see below). Another Canmore Housing Association Project in Edinburgh: Telford Road Housing, Granton Sustainable Architecture Edinburgh Housing