Springside Quarter Edinburgh: Fountainbridge Flats

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Springside Development Homes Edinburgh

Fountainbridge Residential Development, Scotland

post updated 24 October 2023

Springside Edinburgh News

Springside
image courtesy of the architects office

Springside Quarter

Major Homes Launch Signals New Confidence in Capital’s Housing Market

Springside, one of Edinburgh’s most anticipated residential developments, has arrived.
A major launch event today (30 Apr 2009) will open the door to the first homes phase of what will eventually become a thriving city-centre neighbourhood – with 600 homes at its heart.

Springside’s launch marks the next stage of the £250 million transformation of the former Scottish & Newcastle brewery’s bottling site in the city’s Fountainbridge area. As well as homes, the 9.5 acre site will bring together shops, restaurants and offices, linked by a network of walkways, public parks and green spaces.

The first completed homes phase releases 58 units, with around a third already sold. Around 40 one, two and three-bedroom apartments are now being made available with prices ranging from £169,000 to £610,000. The first homes release includes a range of living options – from some of the city’s most desirable luxury duplex apartments and penthouses to stylish and affordable one-bedroom executive apartments.

“Springside’s homes have, in the main, been designed to meet the current demand for smaller, more affordable city centre units which are furnished to the highest standards,” said Dr Ali Afshar, director of AMA which together with Grosvenor and Royal Bank of Scotland forms the joint venture company behind the development.

“Today’s launch represents a new confidence in the city’s housing market. There remains a significant demand for high quality city centre apartments and we have already received significant interest from potential buyers across the UK.

“The Fountainbridge area has a huge potential to become a thriving city centre neighbourhood boasting a genuine sense of community. Springside is a great location, combining city centre convenience with quick access to Haymarket, which itself is being transformed through renewed investment and visionary development schemes.”

First glimpses of the new Springside development show a neighbourhood bursting with life and character. The building design combines with open spaces and public walkways to introduce a new look and feel to a familiar city landscape.

Inside, the new homes offer a modern living environment with plenty of open space and natural light available throughout. The homebuilding styles reflect a contemporary interpretation of Edinburgh’s much-loved traditional tenements, with the building materials echoing the rich industrial heritage of the site.

Externally, the Springside development incorporates a public park, central courtyards and two new tree-lined avenues linking Fountainbridge and the West Approach Road. The city’s traditional streetscape is being reinstated, with existing streets sympathetically extended to create a vibrant new community linking Bruntsfield and Viewforth in the south with the strategically important transport hub of Haymarket to the north.

A £9 million 200-space underground car park – one of the largest subterranean spaces of its kind in Edinburgh – is also part of the initial development, ensuring the wider development area becomes a pedestrian friendly-environment.

Springside’s rejuvenation of Fountainbridge has won the backing of screen icon Sir Sean Connery, who was brought up in the area. The former 007 star said: “Growing up in Fountainbridge played a major part in my early experiences of Edinburgh. Its industrial legacy left an important imprint on my life – and on the rest of the city. I am pleased that now, at last, the walls are coming down, and the area will be opened up to be part of the city.

“I remember the community spirit and that will now have a place to thrive. I hope that the better housing and open spaces will vastly improve the general quality of life there – and give the surrounding community, and the rest of the city, a local neighbourhood that it deserves and it can be proud of.”

The first phase residential blocks have been named Ingles Point and Jex Blake House, commemorating the work of two pioneering female medics who practiced in the Fountainbridge area in the late 19th century.

The Springside development will now host two showhomes – a duplex penthouse and one-bedroom apartment. The residential agents for Springside are Savills.

Fountainbridge Buildings

Fountainbridge Property Developments – a recent selection on this website:

Springside Quarter

Fountain North : images

Fountainbridge redevelopment

Edinburgh Quay

Springside Quarter Edinburgh

Springside Quarter Edinburgh Property Developments

The 9.5 acre-Springside quarter represents one of the largest city centre regeneration projects seen in the Capital during the past 50 years.

Springside Quarter Site History

The Springside site has always enjoyed a critical role in the industrial development of Edinburgh. By the early 19th Century, Fountainbridge was a densely populated industrial area, benefiting from the excellent transport links provided by the railway and Union Canal.

William McEwan first established a brewery and bottling plant there in 1856, and by the1880s it had expanded to 12 acres, including the current development site.

The brewery became part of Scottish Brewers in 1931, with the subsequent merging to create Scottish & Newcastle Breweries in 1960 instigating a thorough modernisation of the plant, creating much of what remains there today. The north site was put up for sale by S&N during 2003 due to a rationalisation of the S&N bottling and distribution functions.

Shaken Not Stirred: Fountainbridge’s Most Famous Son

Sean Connery was born at 176 Fountainbridge on August 25, 1930. The oldest son of Joe and his wife Euphemia MacLean, he slept in the bottom drawer of a wardrobe in the two-bedroom top floor flat until the arrival of his brother Neil eight years later.

Big Tam, as he was affectionately known, left school at the age of 14 and began delivering milk full-time for St Cuthbert’s Co-operative. He was paid a starting salary of 21 shillings a week in 1944, or £1.05 in today’s money while working for St Cuthbert’s. His official job title at the time was Corstorphine Dairy barrow worker, according to records at the time

With the extra money, the teenager bought a £56 piano after his parents quashed his dreams of a motorbike. Sir Sean has never lost his connection with the area. His production company, based in Los Angeles, is called Fountainbridge Films.

What’s in a Name?

As the new Springside development takes shape, two of Scotland’s pioneering female medics will be commemorated just a stone’s throw from where they once worked and studied. Jex-Blake House and Inglis Point will be the first residential buildings to be completed at the Springside site.

Edinburgh Buildings

Edinburgh Property Developments – a recent selection on this website:

New Town Harvey Nichols

Jenners

Hotel Missoni Edinburgh

RBS Gogarburn

Comments / photos for the Springside Quarter Edinburgh Architecture page welcome

Website : www.springside.co.uk