Your weekly Edinburgh buildings, planning, streets and neighbourhoods news, w/e August 7

In today’s edition:

• Portobello promenade set for ‘improvements’;

• Community-designed sculpture unveiled on cycle route;

• £5m support package issued in the wake of the former Debenhams building fire;

• Debate taking place about the City Plan 2040;

• Trial measures to ease traffic congestion at Lothianburn;

• Permission being sought for hotel reconfiguration;

• Images published of newly refurbished King’s Theatre;

• The city council’s housing waiting list;

• Household and dwellings numbers;

• Ticket offer celebrating 180th anniversary of the Scott Monument;

• Passivhaus building costs estimated to be almost on par with ‘conventional’ house ones;

• Land and country mansion for sale, South Queensferry;

• Under-30s ‘love’ Edinburgh;

• Subscriber numbers;

• A lovely discovery; and

• Enjoy, see you next Friday!

Portobello promenade set for ‘improvements’

PUBLIC realm improvements are in store for Portobello promenade - including new, accessible public toilets and “better, accessible and inclusive play spaces for all ages and abilities”.

It is a city council project, to be funded by the proceeds from a levy being charged to visitors for overnight stays, which came into force a fortnight ago.

Says the city council, here: “Portobello Promenade is one of Edinburgh’s most loved seaside spots, and we want to help make it even better.

“We are developing plans to improve the promenade from Kings Place to Joppa.”

The story is picked up by the Edinburgh Evening News newspaper, here.

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Community-designed sculpture unveiled on cycle route

A COMMUNITY-designed sculpture has been unveiled on a cycle route, in Bingham.

Says the charity, Walk Wheel Cycle (formerly Sustrans) - here: “Created by artist duo Littlewhitehead in collaboration with Art Buds Collective, [the sculpture] Beacon has grown from months of creative workshops and shared ideas.

“More than 260 local people helped shape the artwork, making it a true reflection of the neighbourhood and the people who know it best.”

It is located on the National Cycle Network Route 1.

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£5m support package issued in the wake of the former Debenhams building fire

A £5m support package is to be made available by the Scottish Government, in the wake of the fire which ravaged the former Debenhams building on Princes Street.

Says a Scottish Government media release, here: “The funding will be administered by the council and include support for a number of areas to assist the recovery from the fire, including support to incentivise and assist with travel around the city, acknowledging the concerns of businesses facing reduced footfall after the closure on Princes Street, in particular along the tram route to Leith and Newhaven.

“It will also provide assistance to help secure the site and make the building safe to facilitate the reopening of Princes Street, as well as support for festival operators forced to relocate.”

Read more on the city council’s website, here.

The story is picked up by the Edinburgh Evening News newspaper, here.

And the newspaper’s Ian Swanson also quotes the city council leader, describing as “shameful” a non-appearance by the First Minister, John Swinney. Here.

Judging by the other comments published in the newspaper, it seems to have all got rather ‘party political’.

Meanwhile, last week’s poll on BuildEdinburgh, regarding the building: Repair and preserve 37 per cent, Demolish and replace with a replica 41 per cent and Demolish and replace with modern 22 per cent. From 41 votes.

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Debate taking place about the City Plan 2040

A DEBATE about the city council’s planning ambitions for the years 2030-40 is being hosted towards the end of next month, by local heritage body, The Cockburn Association.

The City Plan 2040 debate is taking place on the 26th of next month; details here.

Meanwhile, the city council has issued a City Plan 2040 ‘call for ideas’ - here - with a deadline of September 30.

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Trial measures to ease traffic congestion at Lothianburn

SOMETIMES serious congestion on Biggar Road near the bypass - and also on the slip roads at Lothianburn junction - is to be addressed by the road maintenance and management firm, BEAR Scotland.

Says the organisation, here: “New road markings and temporary changes to the road layout will be put in place on the roundabouts north and south of the city bypass, and at the entrance to the Midlothian Snowsports Centre at Hillend.

“These measures have been designed to improve traffic flow on the roundabouts, reduce queue-jumping, improve lane discipline and reduce delays on the A720 eastbound off-slip.”

Local councillor, Neil Cuthbert, welcomed the announcement, saying it was a “step in the right direction”, adding, “Of course, it is an experiment, so we will just have to wait and see. But it’s progress.”

Relatively recently, traffic lights were installed at the entrance of Hillend snowsports centre and a little south, at a three-road junction considered to be highly dangerous.

The story is picked up by the Midlothian View website, here.

And also TheFairmile website, here (which also notes the local community council’s comments about a planning-in-principle application to demolish Scottish Water offices on Buckstone Terrace).

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Permission being sought for hotel reconfiguration

PLANNING permission is being sought, to reconfigure a hotel on Haymarket Terrace.

The planning application (here, ref: 26/03110/FUL), if approved, would radically change the frontage of the Four Points by Sheraton Hotel, formerly an Apex hotel.

As detailed here.

The architects are ICA.

The story is picked up by Urban Realm website, here.

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Images published of newly refurbished King’s Theatre

IMAGES from the newly refurbished King’s Theatre in Tollcross can be found on several websites, including Urban Realm, here, and The National Lottery Heritage Fund, here.

The theatre reopened on Saturday, following a four-year restoration project overseen by architects, Bennetts Associates.

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The city council’s housing waiting list

JUST over 31,500 applicants are waiting for a‘social rent’ home from the city council.

And according to a Freedom of Information request, of the exactly 31,589 applications that have been submitted, some 9,224 have been waiting for over five years.

Some 5,545 applications have been made within the last 12 months of the most recent data becoming available (the FoI was submitted in June and ‘resolved’ last month).

The breakdown reads as follows:

• Less than one year – 5,545;

• One to two years – 5,521;

• Two to three years – 4,911;

• Three to five years – 6,388; and

• More than five years – 9,224.

Says the reply, from the city council to the FoI: “For applications active for more than five years, the number of applicants in this band who have received at least one offer of accommodation that was refused: 1,235.

“The number who have received no offer of accommodation in that period: 6,864.”

The identity of who submitted the FoI is kept confidential.

The story is picked up, here, by the Edinburgh Evening News.

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Household and dwellings numbers

THERE were almost a quarter of a million households living in Edinburgh last year - according to figures released by National Records of Scotland.

The exact figure of 247,435 was up 2,644 on the previous year.

Meanwhile, there were 269,306 dwellings in the city (up 2,997 on the previous year), not all of them occupied.

Indeed, some 2.4 per cent of homes in Edinburgh (6,464) were identified last year as ‘vacant’ (against a Scotland average of 3.2 per cent), 1.1 per cent as ‘long-term empty’ (3,080) (against a Scotland average of 1.6 per cent), and 0.5 per cent (1,440) as ‘second homes’ (against a Scotland average of 0.6 per cent).

Scotland-wide, over the last 20 years the number of households increased by 296,500 (13 per cent) - to reach 2.57m - with the average household size now 2.11 people per household, down from 2.27 people per household in 2001, 2.19 in 2011 and 2.12 four years ago.

Meanwhile, the number of households in Scotland is projected to grow by 6.7 per cent in the ten years from mid-2022 to mid-2032. By mid-2047, the number of households is projected to be 12.2 per cent higher than in mid-2022. As noted, here.

Read the NRS press release, here.

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Ticket offer celebrating 180th anniversary of the Scott Monument

TICKETS are being made available for free - on a first come, first served basis - to help celebrate the 180th anniversary of the Scott Monument on Princes Street.

From Monday, for a week, 12 free tickets are going to be made available each day, to climb the monument.

As detailed, here, on the city council website.

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Passivhaus building costs estimated to be almost on par with ‘conventional’ house ones

THE additional costs associated with building homes to the exacting energy efficiency standard, Passivhaus, are estimated to have fallen to almost negligible levels - according to new research.

The research (here) has found the additional cost, compared to ‘conventional’ equivalent properties, to be around three-to-five per cent for a semi-detached house and two per cent for a flat.

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Land and country mansion for sale, South Queensferry

A GUIDE price of £200,000 is being suggested for a 1.3-acre plot of land immediately fronting the Firth of Forth, at South Queensferry - here.

And a guide price of £275,000 is being suggested for a nearby dilapidated country mansion, here.

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Under-30s ‘love’ Edinburgh

YOUNG people - aged under 30 - have rated Edinburgh as the fourth-best place in the world to live - according to media brand, Time Out.

Says Time Out, here: “‘There are plenty of reasons why Edinburgh is an extremely liveable city – its green space, walkability, excellent restaurants and world-class cultural offering – but for Gen Z specifically, its unique nightlife scene makes it a standout.”

Edinburgh sits behind Tokyo, Porto and Melbourne in the world rankings.

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Subscriber numbers

SUBSCRIBER numbers have increased from last week: we are now at 727. Thank you.

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A lovely discovery

EDINBURGH’S several ‘broken’ and eyesore telephone boxes could do worse than take inspiration from a lovely transformation of one on Queen Street.

Admittedly a transformation of a classic Giles Gilbert Scott ‘red’ telephone box - as opposed to the much less charming more modern ones - it was undertaken on behalf of Save the Children charity (that was eligible to take over the box for £1) by the nearby shop: bespoke tailors, Stewart Christie & Co.

Read more, here, about the box’s transformation, on The Edinburgh Reporter website.

So… what to do with the city’s other telephone boxes? History boards? Curious Edinburgh tales? Architecture drawings? Telephone hotlines? Tourist information?

BuildEdinburgh plans to explore options, for an upcoming feature.

Any thoughts: editorialbuildedinburgh [at] gmail [dot com]. For example, what type of exhibition boards and how to fix them so they can’t be easily vandalised?

And do please share with BuildEdinburgh readers your own ‘Lovely discoveries’ in the city.

Main image details: Floral clock, Princes Street Gardens; all images copyright Mike Wilson