In today’s edition:
Compulsory purchase being mooted for fire-ravaged former Debenhams building;
Trial to begin of ‘7-7-7’ bus-only road lane from the east;
Further call issued to imagine Edinburgh’s future, 2030-2040;
Tram-trains feasibility study to begin;
£millions reportedly required when Royal Infirmary transfers to public ownership;
‘Market Street Midden’;
Church and caretaker’s cottage being marketed for sale;
Featured: Botanic Garden’s palm houses;
Planning permission approved for Goldenacre playing fields reconfiguration;
Forth Street ‘apart-hotel’ proposal to be decided following a ‘hearing’ and site visit;
Henderson Row build-to-rent plans refused for a second time;
Lithium batteries the prime suspect in near fire incident;
Average house price, Scotland;
Data centre appeal ‘called in’ to be decided at ministerial level;
Water of Leith survey: the results are in;
Architecture awards shortlisting for Teviot Row House and Edinburgh Futures Institute;
Prestigious architecture lecture announces next speaker;
New Liberton High School ‘opens for business’; and
Enjoy, see you next Friday!
Compulsory purchase being mooted for fire-ravaged former Debenhams building
THE possibility of the fire-ravaged former Debenhams building on Princes Street coming under city council ownership has been mooted in a motion being presented to the city’s full council meeting, on Thursday (here, agenda item 8.15)
The motion - by Scottish Green Party councillor, Alys Mumford - asks (here) that council officers be instructed to assess the option of a compulsory purchase of the building.
It also asks officers to consider the feasibility of restricting private cars from the blocks bounded by Princes Street, Frederick Street, Queen Street and Charlotte Square - except where access is required - for so long as Princes Street partly closed to traffic (because of the risk of falling masonry from the building).
To ease the congestion that is currently slowing buses.
Meanwhile, the Edinburgh Inquirer website carries a chunky feature considering what might be done with the building - and Princes Street, more widely - with an international design competitions among the options.
Read more, here.
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Trial to begin of ‘7-7-7’ bus-only road lane from the east
A MAJOR arterial route into the city, from the east, is to trial a road lane dedicated solely to buses from 7am to 7pm, seven-days-a-week.
Road markings are expected to take around four weeks from next month to be laid down on the stretch between East Milton Road and London Road, ahead of what will be a trial lasting potentially until April in two years’ time.
As explained here, on the city council website, which is also inviting in-person views about the trial, here.
The route is used by bus services including the 4, 5, 15, 26, 44, 45, 106, 113, 124, X4, X5 and X7.
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Further call issued to imagine Edinburgh’s future, 2030-2040
A CALL for ideas - as to how Edinburgh might look between 2030 and 2040 - has prompted the convener of the city council’s Planning committee to pen a direct appeal for residents to get involved.
The appeal, by Cllr Joan Griffiths, can be found, here, on the city council’s website.
Ideas can be submitted on an online consultation form - here - which has a deadline of the 30th of next month.
BuildEdinburgh’s several ideas - including here - have still to be uploaded.
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Tram-trains feasibility study to begin
A FEASIBILITY study is to carried out into the viability of re-opening the South Suburban rail line to passenger traffic - using ‘tram-trains’ that can be run on both tram and rail lines.
On Monday, Scottish Government agency, Transport Scotland, said - here - on its social media account, Facebook: “We’re working with Network Rail Scotland to carry out a high-level feasibility study for the potential use of tram-trains on the South Suburban line in Edinburgh.
“The study will identify practical challenges and opportunities of reintroducing passenger services.”
Welcoming the move, the ‘Tram Trains for Edinburgh’ campaign group said (here): “Where the line joins the tram route near Murrayfield will present an engineering challenge; although TTfE believe there are various options to connect to the existing tram line. Likewise, to bridge the East Coast Main Line to reach Portobello, there are several possible solutions.”
It was a group of civil engineering students at Heriot-Watt University that helped kick-start current thinking about the South Suburban rail line - here.
The story is picked up by broadcasters, STV, here.
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£millions reportedly required when Royal Infirmary transfers to public ownership
THE Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh is believed to be returning to public ownership next year - following its opening in 2002 (financed through a Private Finance Initiative programme).
But, claims the BBC (here), “tens of millions of pounds of taxpayers' cash will be required to bring [it] up to scratch”.
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‘Market Street Midden’
A LITTER bin on Market Street has been photographed with overflowing rubbish, leading to its photographer, Steve Kydd, dubbing it the ‘Market Street Midden’.
Writes Kydd, here, the bin is often among the first things visitors to the city see when they arrive by train.
Meanwhile, a ‘littering wall of shame’ has been uploaded on to the online discussion forum, Reddit.
Featuring Calton Road, here.
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Church and caretaker’s cottage being marketed for sale
A CHURCH on Royal Terrace is being marketed for sale.
Says the Church of Scotland, here, Greenside Church and a caretaker’s cottage are together available for offers over £1,075,000.
Featured: Botanic Garden’s palm houses
THE final stage of restoration work on palm houses at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh has been featured in an article in the architecture publication, Architecture Magazine.
Read all about it, here.
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Planning permission approved for Goldenacre playing fields reconfiguration
PLANNING permission has been approved for a reconfiguration of playing fields at Goldenacre, to include a new astroturf pitch and a practice area.
The application - here, ref: 24/00850/FUL - was submitted on behalf of George Heriot’s School and was approved despite a media report - here, on the Edinburgh Live website - quoting some Ferry Road residents upset by what they believe will be a loss of views across the city.
The decision to approve was taken by the city council’s Development Management sub-committee (here) on Wednesday.
Says a design statement on behalf of the applicant: “Both the full-size pitch and the practice area would be fully enclosed by a mesh fence to all sides. The new fence would be of a similar design, construction and height to that of the fence to the existing pitch, formed with lightweight mesh and vertical steel stanchions.
“The total number and height of the proposed new lighting columns will be carefully considered to reduce their visual impact whilst high-performing LED light heads will be used to reduce the amount of spillage and light pollution.”
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Forth Street ‘apart-hotel’ proposal to be decided following a ‘hearing’ and site visit
A PLANNING application - for ‘listed building consent’, to convert a stretch of offices on Forth Street into an ‘apart-hotel’ - is to be decided after a ‘hearing’ and a site visit is held.
The decision was taken by the city council’s Development Management sub-committee (here, agenda item 7.1) on Wednesday. It concerns this application, here, ref: 26/00661/LBC.
It was taken despite the legal time frame for a ‘determination' requiring to be made, before the applicant can go straight to appeal to the Scottish Government, by today.
A ‘hearing’ involves in-person presentations, including from ward councillors.
Members of the sub-committee had heard how plans had been revised to reduce the number of rooms from 90 to 53, to be serviced by a 24-hour security / concierge operation.
They also heard that “points raised” by Scottish Government agency, Historic Environment Scotland, had been addressed within the revised plans.
The properties are 16, 18, 20, 22 and 24 -26 Forth Street.
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Henderson Row build-to-rent plans refused for a second time
PLANS have been refused for a second time - to convert an office block on Henderson Row into build-to-rent apartments.
The decision to reject was made by the city council’s Development Management sub-committee - which met on Wednesday (here, agenda item, 4.4).
This had been the second set of designs submitted for the building - a former trams power station and depot for Edinburgh Northern Tramways Company (as described here) and now owned by pensions, investment and life assurance group, Royal London.
The new designs can be found here (ref: 26/01640/FUL), which asked for the removal of the building’s upper level - called a ‘mansard roof’ - and the addition of a further two floors, including a ‘mansard’.
Planning officials had recommended a refusal, in papers here. It is understood the building has lain empty for three years.
Original plans (here, ref: 25/03716/FUL) had been refused by the Development Management sub-committee in December (here - agenda item 4.5).
The hope was expressed that the applicant thinks yet again and returns with yet another revised plan, retaining the building’s housing ambitions but to keep them more within the current massing and footprint.
The decision to refuse was voted 7-3.
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Lithium batteries the prime suspect in near fire incident
A FIRE in the back of a bin lorry in Polwarth was averted by “the quick actions” of refuse collection workers, the prime suspect being the crushing of the lithium batteries used in tech products and vapes.
A report of the incident was posted on the city council’s website, here.
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Average house price, Scotland
THE average price of a house in Scotland during June was £195,000, according to the National Records of Scotland.
Says the NRS, here, that figure represents a 2.3 per cent increase on 12 months’ previously, but an 0.5 per cent decrease on the month before, May.
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Data centre appeal ‘called in’ to be decided at ministerial level
THE Scottish Government has ‘called in’ - for a decision at ministerial level - an appeal (against a city council rejection) to build a data centre in South Gyle.
It follows an announcement by the Scottish Government, here, requiring all local authorities to notify (within seven days of ‘validation’) Scottish ministers of new data centre applications.
Says the government: “A new direction, issued by Public Finance minister, Hannah Mary Goodlad, applies to data centre developments exceeding 50 Megawatts (MW) power capacity. It will support strategic monitoring of the pipeline of such planning applications and of the implications for wider infrastructure.
“Ms Goodlad has also recalled a planning ‘appeal’ [following a rejection by the city council - here] for ministerial decision relating to a proposed green data centre in Edinburgh [here], and has issued directions requiring Environmental Impact Assessments at locations in Fife and Edinburgh.”
Usually, planning ‘appeals’ are decided by a Scottish Government official, a ‘reporter’.
The appeal details can be found, here (ref: PPA-230-2794) on the Scottish Government’s Planning and Environmental Appeals Division. It had been submitted after a planning-in-principle application was rejected by the city council (here, ref: 25/04239/PPP).
The story is picked up by the Edinburgh Evening News newspaper, here.
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Water of Leith survey: the results are in
THE possibility of conflict between walkers and cyclists was among the most common of the issues highlighted in a survey completed by users of the Water of Leith and its pathway.
Some 450 respondents took part in the survey - which was launched by local MP, Dr Scott Arthur - as reported on his blog, here.
The story is picked up by the Edinburgh Evening News, here.
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Architecture awards shortlisting for Teviot Row House and Edinburgh Futures Institute
THE refurbishment of the student union, Teviot Row House, has been shortlisted in awards being run by the magazine, the Architects’ Journal.
The University of Edinburgh student union (said to be the oldest purpose-built student union in the world) has been shortlisted in the category, ‘Heritage Project (£10 million and over)’.
It is up against six other contenders. Details, here.
Meanwhile, the re-purposing of Edinburgh’s former infirmary as the Edinburgh Futures Institute is one of four shortlisted entries in awards being run by the Royal Institute of British Architects.
Details of the RIBA’s Reinvention Award can be found, here.
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Prestigious architecture lecture announces next speaker
THE founding director of an architecture studio that focuses on “creating spaces that promote reciprocity between nature and neighbourhood” has been announced as the next speaker at a prestigious Edinburgh annual lecture.
Amanda Levete is to present this year's Royal Scottish Academy ‘Metzstein Architecture Discourse’.
She is a Stirling Prize (best new building in the UK) winner and the founder of architecture practice, AL_A.
Say the organisers, the RSA: “The Metzstein Discourse, inaugurated in 2014, is named after Professor Isi Metzstein OBE RSA, a hugely respected architect and teacher, as well as former treasurer of the RSA.
“Generations of students, both at the Mackintosh School of Architecture where he taught for most of his life, and at Edinburgh University where he was professor and head of Department, found him to be an unforgettable inspiration.”
The ‘discourse’ is taking place on the 30th of next month; ticket details here.
Read more about Amanda Levete, here on the online encyclopaedia, Wikipedia.
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New Liberton High School ‘opens for business’
SHOULD have been in last week’s news round-up (apologies): the city council announcement that a new Liberton High School had just ‘opened for business’, here.
Says the announcement: “The new community campus has been built to [the exacting energy efficiency] Passivhaus standard, minimising energy consumption and reducing the reliance on active heating or cooling systems, ensuring sustainable and eco-friendly construction.”
And it includes a pay-as-you-go gym, open to the general public; details here.
Image details: A pre-festival McEwan Hall; copyright Mike Wilson