The things they say: the Royal Commonwealth Pool, Edinburgh (updated)*

Pic: Edinburgh Architectural Association , with apologies if it's copyright*

Update 28th December: an article from the Herald. Dreadful headline, decent text:

http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/home-news/scots-quango-in-bid-to-protect-our-old-concrete-tower-blocks-1.994682

and useful to note another listing last week.



In at the deep end! *Updated Nov 14th,

to include FREE GIFT, see bottom of the post.

 No 1 in an occasional series of things 'they' say which make me realise why I could never give up alcohol in large quantities, because if I did I might be driven to murder. As it is, it numbs the pain of having to live in the same world as an elected representative who can spout these words, without, apparently, feeling the slightest bit an idiot:
(continued below)

UPDATE 14th November

(No 2 in the series may be sooner than I had intended, I feel the need for  a rant an informed critique re the letters in today's Guardian in response to Jonathan Glancey's article re World Heritage, see blog from Wednesday:


http://nemesisrepublic.blogspot.com/2009/11/hooray-for-jonathan-glancey.html 

and today's blog from

http://independentrepublicofthecanongate.blogspot.com/2009/11/andrew-holmes-slates-unesco.html

Andrew Holmes, it's just as well you have departed as Director Of City Planning, Edinburgh, but your ignorance explains so much...    maybe another blog to explain just how wrong you are...   In the meanwhile, Argyle House might occupy your time for a moment or two, peeps, link at the bottom of the blog - marmite building if ever there was one. Pictures can be found by a google, or from the same site as the Commonwealth Pool pics:


http://www.edinburgharchitecture.co.uk/argyle_house.htm

Now  - a horrible lumpen blot  which should not have been built  and which blocks significant views of the castle, the sooner it goes the better, or a carefully crafted building which speaks of its time (conservation b*ll*ckspeak, for the uninitiated in these matters, and oh yes, mea culpa, I spout it  frequently) which should have been listed (it was refused) and should be re-used? Geddes Professorial Honorary Fellow at the Uni,  Embra architect sorry leading Scottish architect, as the press always has it, Malcolm Fraser:

thinks the latter. I know many don't. But then I know others who do agree with him.  Interesting one to think about.


An architect friend of mine (yes yes I do have some!!!), who I hope doesn't mind me quoting, said:

...it seems - largely - to have been thought about in isolation from its context, except the appropriate darkness of the materials, and the quite nice west elevation with the bits of "turd in the plaza" school of public sculpture over the entrances, now very much period pieces...

He wasn't too complimentary about the rest of it.


The comments box is empty, do post your thoughts...)

Anyhow - as you were, and back to the blog post of Thursday:

No 1 in an occasional series of things 'they' say which make me realise why I could never give up alcohol in large quantities, because if I did I might be driven to murder. As it is, it numbs the pain of having to live in the same world as an elected representative who can spout these words, without, apparently, feeling the slightest bit an idiot:

Ian McKee (Lothians) (SNP):

My other gripe about Historic Scotland concerns some of the decisions that it takes to preserve existing buildings. I have argued about how our built heritage must be preserved, but that surely does not mean that every building that is listed must be preserved, as if in aspic, for the rest of time. I cite the example of the Royal Commonwealth pool, which is just across Holyrood Park from the Parliament. The building has been judged by Historic Scotland to be of extreme architectural importance, and has been given a grade 1 listing. However, it is now unfit for purpose as a swimming pool for international events. More important, it cannot be made suitable. Today, international competition requires 10 swimming lanes, and it is physically impossible to widen the building to accommodate more than eight

Now that an upgrade is required, the cost is much higher, and the time for which the pool must be closed is much longer, simply because of the criteria that must be met given Historic Scotland's listing. The building might be of some architectural interest, but I doubt very much that it is high on the lists of things to see for visitors to our capital. Surely it would have been to the greater public good to raze the building to the ground and replace it, at less cost and in less time, with a pool that is fit for purpose for the inhabitants of Scotland in the 21st century.

Official Report 11 November 2009
Scottish Parliament
Debate on Scotland's Historic Environment

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/business/officialReports/meetingsParliament/or-09/sor1111-02.htm#Col21035

AAAAAAGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!

*Royal Commonwealth Pool
Dalkeith Road

1970

Architect: Robert Matthew, Johnson-Marshall and Partners

The Royal Commonwealth Pool is an exemplar of late modern movement design. Designed by John Richards of Robert Mathew Johnson Marshall & Partners, it was built in 1967 for the 1970 Commonwealth Games and consists of an Olympic -length pool with diving and learning pools. The external elevations are strongly horizontal, in three diminishing tiers with recessed glazing behind deep fascias, set into and onto the landscape. A bright steel chimney provides a contrasting vertical emphasis. Functionally, the building not only works well, but also provides attractive and interesting internal spaces.
EAA.


Some very good pictures etc here: http://www.edinburgharchitecture.co.uk/commonwealth_pool.htm
including this one, click on thumbnails to enlarge.

                                                  Pic  c Adrian Welch

As a post-script to this, there is to be a national conference on post-war architecture in Scotland,  November

Is there a place for modern Scottish architecture in our towns and cities?

Press release from Historic Scotland

5 November 2009

Do you have a view on how modern architecture fits into our towns and cities?


Ahead of a conference looking at how we value post war architecture, Historic Scotland is looking for people to contribute their opinions and comments to be addressed by panel of experts.


The conference, Scotland: Building For the Future, will take place at the Bonar Hall at the University of Dundee on Tuesday 24 November 2009. It will be opened by Michael Russell, the Minister for Culture, External Affairs and the Constitution.


Broadcaster Pauline McLean, host of the conference, said: “There's one subject in my brief as BBC Scotland's arts correspondent which is guaranteed to stir up a storm - and that's historic buildings. And when those are post war buildings - with architects still around to argue their motivation - only one thing is guaranteed, opinions are going to be divided. “I'm delighted to be asked to chair this event which I hope will allow for open and robust debate on all aspects of the subject. “


The day will be chaired by Ms McLean and, in addition to speakers from Historic Scotland, the programme includes Raymond Young of Architecture and Design Scotland; Neil Baxter of RIAS; David Page of Page and Park Architects; Miles Glendinning of Edinburgh College of Art and Janet McBain of the National Library of Scotland.


Dr Deborah Mays, Historic Scotland’s Head of Listing and organiser of the conference said: “For many people modern architecture is a subject that can be like marmite – you either love it or hate it. The conference will bring people from across the spectrum to see how we value modern architecture as part of the Scottish landscape.


“We want to hear from anyone with an interest to submit questions for our experts to consider on the day at http://www.celebratingscotlandsarchitecture.org/  It can be a contentious subject and I am very much looking forward to putting some challenging opinions to our panel.”

In addition, Historic Scotland has recently launched a publication on post-war Scottish architecture, which is here as a download:

http://www.celebratingscotlandsarchitecture.org/scotland-building-for-the-future.pdf

A recent post-war listing - BHS, Princes Street, Edinburgh, RMJM. And yes I love it, especially the lettering.

One quote from the Edinburgh Evening News, when an article was printed last year suggesting this might be listed:

Leading architect Malcolm Fraser, whose projects include the Scottish Storytelling Centre on the Royal Mile, said not all modernist buildings deserved a bad name.

        Scottish Storytelling Centre

"It's popular for people to look at the 1960s and think everything was rubbish, but we need to understand there are also some good buildings from that time," he said. "If you look along Princes Street, 75 to 90 per cent of the 1960s buildings are dreadful and need to go. But in Scotland we always seem to get rid of the best ones first.


"The 60s caused such damage to Princes Street that a reaction that says 'tear it all down' is understandable. But the materials used in the building were better, and it was done with much more finesse and care than the other 1960s additions to the street.

And a comment under that:

Ian Ross,Edinburgh

The BHS store is like a boil on one's rear end, and is as ugly a building as the St James Centre. They must need their eyes tested. There is NO architectural beauty there at all.

In the eye of the beholder etc etc...

How about:

 Jason L. McKenzie, Moredun


More tiresome bleating about the possibility that something in this damn city built after the 1300s MIGHT actually have some merit in eyes other than those of the bleaters. You might want to live in an ossified theme park. I'm not so keen. Keeping a few good 60s buildings would be a start; getting some striking new architecture into what should be a living developing city would also be good. Or we can just go back to all throwing our crap out of a tenement window, if you prefer.

Indeed. I think this one isn't going to be easily resolved, and Historic Scotland will have a way to go to win all hearts and minds.

Nem

Post-script number 2 which explains a little more: Malcolm Fraser in the Scotsman:

http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/comment/Malcolm-Fraser-The-capital-needs.5808798.jp

Oh Mr Fraser...  maybe another day another blog...

Anyhow, to add that required air of gravitas to the new Geddes Honorary Professory Fellowy person, and all others who aspire to be so, here's a little something to consider:

Click to enlarge, save, print on thin card, cut out, and indeed, wa-lah!  

Nem

Hooray for Jonathan Glancey!

Caltongate, Edinburgh; one of the proposed buildings (Malcolm Fraser Architects)

From today's Guardian. I apologise for any breach of copyright Mr Rusbridger, but I do buy a paper copy daily, and I was a very early Re-Tweeter of the Trafigura story, so maybe you owe me, just this once?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2009/nov/10/bath-world-heritage-status

In April I wrote about Bath's status as a world heritage site, which was then in doubt. Unesco, the international guardian of these sites, had sent a team of inspectors to England's most celebrated Georgian city in November last year, prompted by controversial developments such as its neo-Georgian SouthGate shopping mall, and a scheme for 2,200 flats (and not much else) on the edge of town. Was Bath about to be dropped from Unesco's list of 890 sites considered to be of outstanding international importance, among them Stonehenge, Venice and the Great Barrier Reef?



Until this year, Unesco had dropped just one of its sites, the Oryx sanctuary in Oman, which had failed to look after the rare antelopes and the stunning wilderness in its care. But in June, Dresden was taken off the list after the Saxon capital went ahead with a brutal motorway bridge across the River Elbe and its beautiful baroque city centre. I thought Bath might follow suit. While many people are keen on shops, and many residents feel that the shopping mall (which opened last week) is better than the 1960s one it replaced, it seemed the city had been careless of its heritage, unable to find ways of building intelligently. Still, according to the Bath Chronicle, 30,000 people, more than a third of the city's population, turned up to last week's opening.


When Unesco's inspectors visited last year, they had been asked by concerned locals to look in particular at the proposed residential development, Western Riverside, which looked like a very big, modern tail about to wag a small Georgian dog. Published this summer, Unesco's report avoided discussion of SouthGate, as if it were best to let one gormless project go while pointing out what might be done to safeguard the city's heritage for the future. Construction has not yet begun on Western Riverside, but it has planning permission.

The report emphasised the need for "social facilities" – schools, clinics, pubs, cinemas, bus stations – to go with the flats, and recommended an architectural competition for the second and third phases of the enormous development. It underlined the importance of Bath's setting, the landscape that surrounds it – under threat by proposed suburban extensions of the city. But the report was at best a tepid broadside, one that stopped well short of stripping the city of its heritage status.

Should anyone in Bath care what Unesco says? I think so: its world heritage committee was set up in 1972 by members of the UN, as a means of ensuring that the world's most significant sites were properly cared for by member governments (now numbering 186). Each year, its elected 21-member committee reviews its list of sites, advised by a staff based in Paris (led since 2000 by Venetian architect and planner Francesco Bandarin).


Caroline Kay, chief executive of the Bath Preservation trust, tells me the Unesco report was "much less punchy than we'd hoped. The unresolved problem here is that developments are meant to be addressed by national government, but the Department for Culture Media and Sport, and the Department for Homes and Communities, insist these are issues of purely local interest." Kay hopes to encourage Unesco to take another look at Bath, and is disappointed the report didn't address the shopping centre. "It's in the world heritage site, and the architecture and planning are hardly world class. From the centre of SouthGate, you can't see out to views beyond – a feature of Bath over the centuries. It misses the spirit of Bath. We could have done so much better, and Unesco should have rapped us over the knuckles."


Dresden proves that Unesco has teeth; the city's loss of status may well affect tourist revenue and inward investment. And this year, a Unesco report on Edinburgh (its Old and New Towns have heritage status), has prompted the collapse of two new developments: a 17-storey hotel, and Caltongate, a complex incorporating a hotel, conference centre, 200 flats and offices, which would have entailed the demolition of listed buildings. True, the recession has played a part, too: the developer for Caltongate, Mountgrange Capital, has gone into receivership. But if the development has been knocked on the head, Unesco has played its part.


Now its toughest fight, and one that it is unlikely to win, is over the future of St Petersburg, a city arguably even more beautiful than Bath. Here, the Edinburgh-based architects RMJM have won permission to build the vertiginous Gazprom Tower, or Okhta Centre, as it has since been renamed. Rising from the site of a historic Swedish fort, it will set a precedent for local Flash Gordon-style redevelopment. But planning permission has been granted by Valentina Matviyenko, governor of St Petersburg and a Putin appointee. The tower, and other similar developments, look unstoppable.


So Unesco has its work cut out, but the point of Unesco, as indeed with other conservation bodies in Britain, is not to stop all development, nor to attempt to pickle our cities in heritage aspic, but to make us stop, think and try to build the best we can. In the end, short-term expediency and big-buck developments make few of us happy. As for Bath, Unesco will be watching to see if the city can strike the right balance between its heritage, its need for housing and the modern lust for shopping.

For past posts on all of these, UNESCO and Bath, Caltongate, Haymarket, Gazprom,  Dresden, and indeed Jonathan Glancey, please use the search facility, right hand column.

Parts of the above I think are not totally as informed as they could be, and I note Mr G failed to mention the Bath Dyson debacle, which maybe one day I will put together the whole, unvarnished reality rather than the Sir James version, but in the main, fair comment. And thank goodness someone understands what UNESCO actually is.

Back asap.

Nem

UNESCO SLAMS CALTONGATE, and DEMANDS CHANGES! *

*This blog has been updated to link to the UNESCO mission reports, Bath and Edinburgh, now that they are released:

http://www.culture.gov.uk/ukwhportal/publications/publications.htm


The Canongate Venture, one of the World Heritage Site listed buildings the Caltongate scheme would have had demolished

What a cheering heading that was to write.

The Scotsman today has leaked part of the still-confidential report on Edinburgh from the UNESCO mission which visited the city last November, sparked by a huge campaign by many worried about what was happening in the City. I leave The Scotsman (and mostly Brian Ferguson) to tell the story...

UNESCO insist that views be kept, and this planned building scrapped

Unesco insists Capital must scrap £300m Caltongate scheme

6 June 2009
By BRIAN FERGUSON

A £300 MILLION development in Edinburgh's historic Old Town has been thrown deeper into chaos after Unesco inspectors demanded council leaders have the whole scheme returned to the drawing board.

Councillors are set to face international condemnation at a world heritage summit in Seville next month after a damning report urged wholescale changes be made to the Caltongate scheme – even though it has received final approval from the Scottish Government.

The future of the project – which includes a five-star hotel and conference centre on the Royal Mile, more than 200 homes and a cultural quarter – was put in doubt this year when developer Mountgrange went into administration.Leaked documents obtained by The Scotsman reveal that heritage inspectors are demanding a reprieve for two listed buildings threatened with demolition, the scrapping of a modern building which would have blocked views from Jeffrey Street, and a full review of how the development would impact on views from Calton Hill.

Unesco's report, which the city council received in February, said changes were needed to avoid the development impacting on the "outstanding universal value, authenticity and integrity" of the city's world heritage site...

...Referring to Caltongate, Unesco's inspectors recommended the "integration rather than demolition of two listed buildings" and the "total redesign" of a huge part of the development. Unesco's report will also recommend the creation of a "buffer zone" around the current world heritage site. The report also states: "There is a need for clear policies in relation to height controls within the world heritage property ... which should be developed on the basis of key views and vistas from within and outside the property."

Here's the report from the Scotsman:

http://news.scotsman.com/caltongatedevelopment/Unesco-insists-Capital-must-scrap.5340925.jp#4101203

It's been a long, long struggle, a very real David and Goliath battle, but there seems to be a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel.

For more keep up with the blog:

http://independentrepublicofthecanongate.blogspot.com/

and website of the campaign:

http://www.eh8.org.uk/

Last week another section of the report was released, at the inquiry into the 17-storey Haymarket Tower. UNESCO didn't like that either, and thought planning policies and a lack of a declared buffer zone were 'cause for concern'.

The plans were originally backed by Edinburgh City Council but were "called in" by the Scottish Government, although possibly that was because of the UNESCO visit...

Heritage body hits out over visual impact of 17-storey capital hotel
27 May 2009
By SHÂN ROSS

WORLD heritage body Unesco has strongly criticised plans for a 17-storey Edinburgh hotel, saying it would have a "major visual impact" on surrounding buildings in the capital.
A public inquiry into the £200 million project heard that the UN body had "considerable concern about the height of the proposed hotel in the Haymarket development".

A two-week public inquiry into the project at the disused Morrison Street goods yard near Haymarket railway station which includes two hotels, offices shops and restaurants, began on Monday.Critics, including the Cockburn Association, Edinburgh World Heritage and residents' groups, say they do not object to the site being redeveloped, but insist the height of the 17-storey, five-star hotel, located at the edge of a World Heritage Site, is out of scale with buildings in the surrounding area.The plans were originally backed by Edinburgh City Council but were "called in" by the Scottish Government...

Unesco officials visited the city on a monitoring mission last November, raising fears that the city would lose its heritage status.In its report to be presented to the World Heritage Committee meeting in Seville next month and released to the inquiry yesterday, they raise strong concerns about the hotel which Tiger Developments wants to build for its client the InterContinental Hotel Group.

Unesco wrote: "The proposed 17-storey hotel would have a major visual impact on the property and dominate the St Mary's Cathedral towers from several key viewpoints."The officials also said there was a need for a "declared buffer zone" between the proposed development and the heritage site, adding that current planning mechanisms seemed unable to deter proposals such as that for a 17-storey hotel....

More:

http://news.scotsman.com/edinburghplanningissues/Heritage-body-hits-out-over.5304417.jp

Hotel would 'obliterate' city's heritage status, says expert
3rd June 2009
By BRIAN FERGUSON

ONE of the world's foremost conservation experts believes plans for a controversial hotel development "ignore and obliterate" the world heritage status of Scotland's capital.
Professor Herb Stovel, a long-time adviser to world heritage body Unesco, told a public inquiry in Edinburgh that the 17-storey development would dramatically change the city's Haymarket district.Prof Stovel, who was behind a major study which led to Edinburgh securing world heritage status, said it made no difference that the five-star hotel proposed by Irish developer Tiger was outside the designated site...

More:

http://news.scotsman.com/edinburghplanningissues/Hotel-would-39obliterate39-city39s-heritage.5327538.jp


Swinney admits planning system has failings
4 June 2009
By BRIAN FERGUSON

SCOTTISH finance secretary John Swinney yesterday admitted that having to call in major developments for public inquiries meant the planning system was partly failing. He said the government wanted to "minimise" the use of inquiries by trying to ensure disputes were resolved early.

Mr Swinney also insisted the government would respect the views of Unesco's world's heritage committee when it rules on major developments in Edinburgh next month – saying the body had a "fundamental" part to play in the planning process. He was speaking in amid news a second public inquiry had been ordered within just a few months into a major development in Edinburgh.

Meanwhile, the head of the Prince of Wales' architecture trust has called for developers to respect the character of world heritage sites such as Edinburgh when pursuing major projects. Hank Dittmar said the prince had expressed concerns about the impact of new schemes in the city.

http://news.scotsman.com/politics/Swinney-admits-planning-system-has.5332724.jp#4096034

Haymarket Tower

I understand the good people at Bath Heritage Watchdog are eagerly anticipating what UNESCO has to say about that fine city, and the Western Riverside scheme.
http://www.bathwesternriverside.co.uk/
http://www.bathheritagewatchdog.org/

Nem

Boldly going...

The Caley's brewing coppers

This section of the Republic has in the past week roused itself from its customary sloth mode and travelled far, with investigation into various building and culcha related stuff, and along the way local fayre and ales have had to be sampled, all in the cause of fearless blogging natch. The National Trust is to be congratulated on the standard of its scones at Rufford Old Hall, and I can report with some authority that a glass (straight sided, none of yer soft, southern fancy tankards with handles here north of the Wash) of Deuchar's IPA tasted just as good at the Sea View Inn, Chorley as it did in Edinburgh.

Cheers to the Caledonian Brewery, aka The Caley, sole survivor of more than forty breweries which once graced Edinburgh, long may it continue:

Every brewery will have stories you say. Well how about this then? The only other place you'll find the same chute of our steels masher (which, incidentally, we use everyday) is in Burton on Trent - in the Bass Brewing Museum.

And speaking of a museum, that's essentially what we are - a living, working, thriving museum. A team of highly skilled brewers and motivated individuals all passionately dedicated to continuing the tradition of brewing ale in a Victorian Brew house which remains relatively unchanged since it's opening in 1869...

Our History
As authentic as Victorian distilling may be - there's a very distinct smell to the process. And so it's no wonder that Edinburgh was known as “Aulde Reekie” in the 1800s, given that there were over 40 breweries in very close proximity to one another clustered in the city centre. Whilst beer was the drink of choice (over water) for the working man at the time, high demand was not the only reason for the concentration of breweries...

...a pure supply of water (as one of the chief ingredients in brewing beer) was, and in Edinburgh it was known as the Charmed Circle of Brewing Wells.

The Caledonian was one these breweries and was opened by George Lorimer Jr. in 1869. It was as a result of two things: the death of his father and his love of the golf course. On the links he befriended many eminent Edinburgh brewers. Robert Clarke being one of them and when he inherited his father's estate, the two of them opened Lorimer and Clark's Caledonian Brewery on the current site.

More here:

http://www.caledonian-brewery.co.uk/

The hope for its continuation is not only because if it didn't the world would lose some mighty fine beers, but also because the historic site would be sold off and no doubt something nasty and wildly unsuitable built in its place.

City of Edinburgh Council's dealings with Mountgrange over Caltongate continue to amaze; it is now revealed that the developers, who went bust before managing to demolish the listed buildings which the council was only too happy to bend over backwards, and indeed bend planning policies, to allow, as is its wont, haven't even paid the promised rent on the former city architect Ebenezer MacRae-designed tenements from which the residents were decanted.

http://www.scottisharchitects.org.uk/architect_full.php?id=200699

MacRae was one of the pioneers of conservation. He renovated a number of Old Town buildings and where that was not practicable he rebuilt several facades in their original form. In his survey of the Old Town he was assisted by a newly qualified planner, William Dey, later of Gordon & Dey, and produced a policy report; and from that he proceeded to produce another policy document, 'The Heritage of Greater Edinburgh', which listed all the traditional buildings in the city which were worthy of retention, very much in parallel with the Marquess of Bute's lists for the country as a whole. A large collection of related papers is preserved in Edinburgh Central Library. His interest also extended to historic statuary, and he published an essay on the 'Lead Equestrian Statue of Charles II' in the Old Edinburgh Club Transactions.

(For more on the statue, and the current funding appeal to repair, see: http://www.ewht.org.uk/Appeal-launched-to-restore-Charles-II-statue.aspx)

More here about the rental fiasco, and a picture of the tenements:

http://independentrepublicofthecanongate.blogspot.com/2009/05/mountgrange-owes-18000-in-rent.html

The grand plan was that these, built on the Royal Mile as model housing for the poor, were to form part the fakery facade of a Sofitel five star hotel. That was alongside the facade of the adjacent Sailor's Ark, a listed building, which once served as a seamen's hostel. Not sure if this was intended as ironic or was just plain insensitive. Despite long waiting lists for social and affordable housing, the tenements, perfectly sound buildings in a good state of repair, have been standing empty for a considerable time. The council also emptied a handsome listed building, the Canongate Venture, latterly re-used as small business units but for decades the school for children of the Canongate. Mountgrange was also intending to buy this from the council to demolish, to build a conference centre as part of its Caltongate development. The legality of the deal has never really been explained.

Here's an article which first appeared in the spring 2008 newsletter of ICOMOS-UK by renowned Edinburgh conservation architect James Simpson OBE, on exactly what was wrong with Caltongate:

http://www.eh8.org.uk/whos_who

The “Caltongate” development as it stands will have a profoundly negative impact on the values of the World Heritage Site: it is also a missed opportunity to show that, if the fundamentals of size, scale and grain are got right, new development, however brave architecturally, can be successfully integrated with urban landscapes of international value. Edinburgh was for many years seen as a trailblazer for urban conservation, commended for its far-sighted town planning policies initiated by Patrick Geddes - the father of town planning and of urban conservation - which had allowed the city’s skyline and urban spaces to evolve but maintain their significance over time.“Caltongate” is symptomatic of a new trend towards development of extensive areas of cites as single projects - reminiscent, alas, of the Comprehensive Development Areas of the 1960s. Bath Western Riverside, a large, highly contentious scheme in the centre of the Bath World Heritage Site, is another...

(For more on Western Riverside, those splendid campaigners at Bath Heritage Watchdog are keeping the world updated: http://www.bathheritagewatchdog.org/western.htm)

and under that link to the article by James Simpson is a little more about Mountgrange, Manesh Chande, and a few others involved in the sorry tale of Caltongate.

Manesh Chande, millionare co-owner of Mountgrange, the man who owes City of Edinburgh Council the rent, and the people of Edinburgh a huge apology, is currently serving a second term of office as a Commissioner for English Heritage.

It is widely expected that UNESCO, in its forthcoming World Heritage Site report following an investigative visit to Edinburgh in November triggered by mounting concern over Caltongate and other developments, will be very critical of the Caltongate scheme, and the failure of the City of Edinburgh Council to masterplan the site. Instead, it left that to the developer, and architect Allan Murray, and Mountgrange failed to properly consult with residents and heritage bodies over the scheme. Objections were ignored by the council. Historic Scotland also has little of which to be proud over this.

http://www.culture.gov.uk/images/publications/pa_reappoint_ehcommissioners07.pdf

Mr Chande serves on the Finance and Business Committees of English Heritage. He is also a Commissioner Director of English Heritage Trading Ltd. No, honestly, I'm not kidding, he does, it says so here:

http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/server/show/nav.00100400100a004

Other battles currently being fought in Edinburgh are the Tiger Developments/Richard Murphy designed Haymarket Tower (public inquiry soon) and the B Listed (although Historic Scotland is hoping to upgrade to A) Odeon Cinema, Clerk Street, where the all-important auditorium has been given permission to be demolished to build - yes, another hotel, although it sounds as though Historic Scotland, alongside the Cinema Theatre Association in Scotland

http://www.cinema-theatre.org.uk/scotland/sco_home.htm

is at least on the side of right over that, and hopefully an inquiry will be called there too. The Theatres Trust and SAVE both objected strongly too, but the council knows best. Developers' profits are of far more importance than the preservation of listed buildings.

It appears, though, that the council-commissioned-and-paid-for report by Montagu Evans, which handily concluded, following the payment of around seven grand of public cash for work which took no longer than a fortnight to produce, and on the basis of information supplied by the (gosh) developer and the council, that demolition was the best option, has been looked at again. Historic Scotland has paid for another report (Drivers Jonas- what a nice little earner all these reports are for 'consultants') which says that the Montagu Evans report ('Montagu Evans LLP is a highly focused and dynamic property conultancy with a commitment to provide our clients with the best possible advice', clients list: Edinburgh City Council http://www.montagu-evans.co.uk/?pid=4&dept=0&type=6&letter=C)

was (let's be charitable) a tad erroneous and limited in its findings, and should possibly be disregarded. As one insider from the CTA says:

'The Drivers Jonas report concludes that the valuations and rental expectations quoted in the Montagu Evans report were unrealistic and inappropriately calculated, and that the only thing proven was that Duddingston House Properties were only interested in the maximum return for the property. It concludes firmly that "demolition is not the minimum necessary to retain the building. Indeed, we do not believe the demolition of the auditorium is justified". '

Lost is probably the cause of Princes Street, where the council gave permission last week for the demolition of another listed building and the erection of a new Premier Hotel and shop of not a great deal of architectural merit. Historic Scotland, Edinburgh World Heritage, and Architecture and Design Scotland all opposed the scheme, alongside other heritage bodies, but hey, what can they know? The developer, Deramore, wanted somewhere with nice views of the castle. Shame the views from the castle won't be as nice. Shame too that the tram system currently causing uproar will disfigure Princes Street, and views of many world class buildings, with poles and wires, but that's another fine mess by Edinburgh Council which will run and run, unlike the trams, behind schedule and way over budget I believe, which many would like to see scrapped even at this stage.

Recently unveiled too is the new Allan Murray (Caltongate) Hotel Missoni, in the heart of the World Heritage Site, which replaced a building by Sir Robert Matthew. Yes, heritage bodies objected to the demolition, but, surprise surprise, down it came, and the Hotel Missoni is another of those buildings from which it's best to avert the gaze.

Still to come is the Allan Murray Cube, nearing completion near his Omni Centre, and the demolition of the St James' Centre (no loss, although the buildings demolished in the recent past to build it are) for - yes, another Allan Murray. Then there is his SoCo development on the site where a major chunk of the Old Town was consumed by fire, again passed by the council despite it not conforming to the Development Brief, objections from Historic Scotland, Edinburgh World Heritage, etc etc.

As Marcus Linklater wrote in the Times:

Why leave a city's designs in one man's hands?
Edinburgh's celebrated skyline is threatened by a planning policy that puts mediocrity before imagination or beauty...

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/magnus_linklater/article4517781.ece

Thank you again to the Society of Antiquaries for another mention of the Republic:

http://www.sal.org.uk/salon/#section18

and the advice given in a recent edition of SALON:

Fellow Adam Wilkinson, Director of Edinburgh World Heritage, responded to Mark Horton’s concerns about the impact on archaeology of a Severn barrage with news that solar water heating panels are being installed successfully on the roofs of Georgian tenements in the heart of the World Heritage Site and are already supplying more than 50 per cent of the annual hot water requirement of forty-nine listed properties. Adam says it is essential to ‘dispel the myth that historic buildings are neither energy efficient nor capable of being sensitively retro-fitted with sustainable energy measures’.

He also recommends that Fellows visiting Edinburgh between now and 7 June 2009 should make time to visit the stunning exhibition at the National Gallery of Scotland celebrating Turner’s love affair with ancient Italy.

Well, the exhibition was duly visited, and it is indeed excellent. Do not miss it. You don't have to be a Fellow, all are welcome.

Friday was the major conference on historic buildings and which I mentioned in the blog here:

http://nemesisrepublic.blogspot.com/2009/04/renewable-heritage-microgeneration-in.html

This is a Changeworks event, funded by eaga Charitable Trust and Edinburgh World Heritage

It was held, appropriately, at the Hub, a former church in the shadow of Edinburgh Castle, now converted to other uses.

I gather that in general the advice was to not worry overmuch about spending a fortune on too many eco-gadgets which may not be terribly effective.

Adam Wilkinson of Edinburgh World Heritage's advice was that sustainability is possibly best served by first of all looking at simple measures such as closing the shutters, draughtproofing and good insulation of existing stock, and above all by retaining and adapting solidly built historic buildings, not demolition, as the embodied energy which they represent is long paid for environmentally. Howard Liddell, of Gaia Architects, a major expert, was rather of the opinion that we are doomed anyhow, unless we really do wake up to the impending crisis, which few in governments, here and elsewhere, seem to be keen to do.

His book is duly ordered:

(Eco minimalism)the Antidote to Eco-Bling

Howard Liddell

In this age of ‘eco-bling' where sustainability becomes yet another buzz word and people rush to technically fix green badges to their unsuspecting buildings, not all ‘green' additions to buildings are necessary. Eco-minimalism: the antidote to eco-bling is timely in highlighting more realistic and cost effective approaches to becoming ‘green' and in showcasing ‘eco-minimalism' - a good-housekeeping approach to ecological building design and specification, involving apparently non-glaringly obvious strategies such as insulation, draught-proofing and the use of healthy materials. This book aims to expose the pitfalls of ‘greenwashing' in an immediate, visually-arresting and authoritative way. The intention is to present basic tenets in a quickfire, highly accessible format that is based on 30 years of practical experience. A number of case studies support its central message, that the scattergun, ‘Christmas tree' approach should be ditched in favour of ‘eco-minimalism' – the holistic, considered and appropriate deployment of building science in support of truly ecological, affordable sustainable architecture for everyone.

Reviewed by Adrian Cave, Principal, Adrian Cave Associates:

This compact little book practises what it preaches, using the minimum number of words and resources to convey important ideas about sustainable design. The author, who is recognised as one of the leading ecological design architects in Europe, with expertise in building biology, ecological design, sustainable development, masterplanning and community architecture begins by refuting many common assumptions about sustainable design. This will make uncomfortable reading for many architects by demonstrating the irrelevance of much current practice...

http://www.ribabookshops.com/site/viewtitle.asp?pid=9059

From a 2002 paper by Howard Liddell, Gaia Architects:

http://www.seda2.org/articles/Ecominimalism.html

Summary
To return to the beginning of this paper - it is not the fact that the responsibility of delivering sustainable developments and the whole ecological agenda in buildings is “daunting”- it is the fact that it is being made more complicated than it need be. The world is suddenly full of carpetbaggers purveying their eco-goodies and quack doctors with their snake oil remedies, whilst the populace is still insufficiently knowledgeable about the nature of the status quo to be able to resist.

The advice therefore is simple. Trust your traditional instincts to do the straightforward thing first and be wary of strangers bearing gifts.

Much of ecological design lies in the identification and revival of commonsense and good practice - albeit it often requires new knowledge and insight to underpin it. It also needs for us to go back and question all the new man-made and often "magical remedy" materials that have rushed into buildings over the past four decades.

Nothing wrong with a good wool vest, is my view. Warm and ecologically sound.

http://www.theretroknittingcompany.co.uk/underwear.html

Finally, I cannot allow anyone to pass by this site without reading the latest offering from Caius Plinius, and I hope the letter from from Archibald Clark-Kerr, 1st Baron Inverchapel, British Ambassador to Moscow first penned in 1943, and which I wonder if he ever thought would become quite so public, continues to bring a little ray of light to illuminate the gloom!

http://caiusplinius.blogspot.com/2009/05/as-storm-clouds-gather.html

Enjoy!

Nem

PS Republic Follower Jayne has sent me this e-mail:

It's so depressing that absolutely nothing seems to stand in the way of developers massacring such beautiful places. See this article about St George's Square http://www.examiner.co.uk/news/local-west-yorkshire-news/2008/08/28/new-no-to-chinese-stone-in-st-george-s-square-86081-21622031/ No heed was paid. Our lovely cobbles were dug up and replaced with pink Chinese tiles which look horrendous. And to add to all the fun - the main contractor doing the job went bust a couple of months back before work was finished. God knows what the end result is going to look like :(

Jayne

Hip hip...

Hooray! The news of the probable demise of the ghastly Caltongate scheme in Edinburgh's World Heritage Site dominates today's heritage news (see also yesterday's blog updates) as Mountgrange has gone bust, and today I can do no better than simply add these links to those posted at the bottom of yesterday's post:

http://independentrepublicofthecanongate.blogspot.com/2009/03/great-calton-gate-swindle.html

The full cast of those responsible is assembled there, and all the back story is at

http://www.eh8.org.uk/

Wilson's Weekly Wrap:

City centre site now available – world class architecture wanted

..The project is - to all intents and purposes - dead, despite the optimistic noises being made by Manish Chande, one of the Mountgrange directors that he has another investment vehicle that could buy the assets out of administration. Given that nobody is lending money for commercial development just now, It’s difficult to see new finance being raised to simply carry on with the development as is. And that doesn’t get away from the brutal reality that nobody other than the city’s ingenuous council and that regular backer of losers, the Chamber of Commerce, had bought into this particular project. The trouble is, times have changed, even during the gestation of the ‘Caltongate’ scheme. People know when they are being offered cod consultation and resent it. They are also – despite many architects’ views to the contrary - able to recognise quality when they see it and nowadays expect it, especially in a city with the architectural and urban credentials that Edinburgh has. Which brings us to the nub of the problem – the many drawings published for this project illustrated a commercial style of architecture so unremarkable that it could have been in any city in the world. This may be unfair to the architects involved, but they produced the drawings so they can’t complain if the public isn’t convinced by what is put in front of it. What was required here was a modern form of architecture distinctive to Scotland’s capital and we can only hope that out of the Mountgrange ashes a phoenix will arise that is both appropriate for Edinburgh and genuinely world class in terms of its architectural quality....

Full article here:

http://www.architecturescotland.co.uk/news/1323/Wilson%27s_Weekly_Wrap%3A_The_Calton_Crunch_and_other_matters.html

and it's hard to disagree, really.

Pictures:

http://independentrepublicofthecanongate.blogspot.com/2008/11/welcome-to-brents-edinburgh.html

Listed buildings were to be demolished for that!

UPDATE ALREADY!

http://www.twodoctors.org/2009/03/onefinger-gesture-from-the-mar.html

Nem


HERITAGE FORUM:

http://www.joylandbooks.co.uk/forum/viewforum.php?f=11

World Heritage - who cares?

A small section of the SAVE exhibition, snapped at the preview by Nem

Liverpool (a World Heritage Site) featured in this blog a week ago, with news and a report of a SAVE exhibition and book:

http://nemesisrepublic.blogspot.com/2009/02/damned-if-you-do-damned-if-you-dont.html

and on Feb 12th here:

http://nemesisrepublic.blogspot.com/2009/02/saving-britains-heritage.html

and I am delighted to report that in today's Independent there is an excellent review of the SAVE exhibition:

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/reviews/triumph-disaster-and-decay-milkandsugar-liverpool-1630252.html

Liverpool’s agony has also been an internal one, witnessed by residents and visitors alike, in the unceasing destruction of its architectural heritage. A bomb-site necropolis long after the Luftwaffe had visited, the city began an extraordinary programme of self-mutilation, starting with the demolition of John Foster’s magnificent Customs House in 1947,

http://conservationofficer.blogspot.com/2009_01_01_archive.html

despite the fact that its war damage was quite repairable. This story of a disappearing city, which continues to the present day, is chronicled in a superb exhibition of photographs, Triumph, Disaster and Decay, at the milkandsugar gallery....

...Individual records of philistinism and neglect unfold across the gallery walls. Of the 19 churches in Everton described by Nikolaus Pevsner in 1969, only six remain. A photograph of Abercromby Square shows Foster’s church St Catherine’s, demolished in 1966 to make way for the university’s Senate House. More heartbreaking still is the fragment of wrought ironwork from a gallery inside the Old Sailors’ Home, a beautiful neo-Jacobean marvel senselessly destroyed in the 1970s. Canning Place, where it stood, itself no longer exists, swallowed up by the huge (and controversial) Paradise Street shopping centre, Liverpool One. It echoes another outrageous scarring, of elegant old Clayton Square, flattened to make way for another mall in 1986. By whose decree? The answer isn’t always clear, but a combination of rapacious property developers and incompetent councillors have usually done for it.

That legacy of near-criminal negligence seems to have been handed down through the DNA of Liverpool City Council. One might leave this exhibition feeling indignant and deeply depressed, for the disasters of the 1960s are returning, in the shape of the Government-sponsored Pathfinder schemes. Hearteningly, campaigns are being fought against further depredations. Elizabeth Pascoe still battles a road-widening scheme that would destroy 400 perfectly good family houses in and around Edge Lane. Florence Gersten also continues a valiant rearguard against municipal vandalism, having helped to save the Lyceum building in Bold Street back in the 1980s. Save Britain’s Heritage itself deserves immense credit for supporting the fightback, and for mounting this exhibition, splendidly curated by Robert Hradsky...

Caltongate in Edinburgh as a place does not of course exist, apart from in the mind of whichever PR drone thought it up as the adspeak new face of ruining a World Heritage Site (see yesterday's blog and the movie The Canongate Project as well as http://www.eh8.org.uk/ and the related blog, linked to from this site). Currently, it is still a hole in the ground in Edinburgh, following the demolition of a bus garage. Under threat of demolition are listed buildings, with facade schemes for others, and the sale of 'common good' land, a peculiarly Scottish concept, for buildings whose future planned contribution to the 'common good' is baffling many. The council seem to think that selling off these public assets to a private developer for pennies in order to hugely enlarge the development site was sound sense. That says a great deal about the council.

Of course, mega businesses have megabucks to spend on selling their schemes to gullible (or worse) councillors and naturally they have the cash to spend on PR agencies to help overcome any little local difficulties and carefully manipulate the entire process. And indeed Mountgrange was able to take advantage of a spin company called Invicta PA, whose blurb on its website carries with it a sickbag warning before you read it:

http://www.invictapa.co.uk/casestudy_mountgrange.pdf

A little past history is worth reading:

http://www.eh8.org.uk/pps_in_the_news

'Organised and determined' campaign group - militant? Dear me yes! Armed to the teeth with only a love of their community and city and the concept of Word Heritage, into battle they went.

Oddly, many more of the citizens of Edinburgh were not too happy about having thrust upon them yet another crappy scheme of second rate architecture, the city has had too many of those in recent times, with little heed taken of objectors (the planning 'consultations' by the developer Mountgrange carefully avoided taking much note of objections from local residents, Edinburgh World Heritage, ICOMOS, etc). So they joined in the protests, and when local politicians aided by Historic Scotland (whose role in this affair has surely yet to be fully explored and exposed) passed the plans and the Scottish government scandalously declined to call them in for public inquiry, they took their protests to UNESCO, a body to which the UK is a state party and signatory to the World Heritage Convention. UNESCO duly sent a mission to investigate matters.

The mission arrived last November. It first visited Bath, then Edinburgh. The council wined dined and generally schmoozed the two delegates, presumably in the hope that a full belly and copious amounts of alcohol would blur their vision and make them see the Emperor's magnificent suit of spankingly new attire. Such profligacy with cash seems not to have had the desired outcome however, as a draft of the (confidential) report was apparently sent to the council, Historic Scotland and the government last week. Confidentially too no doubt, but apparently forgetting to say so, the Convenor of the Planning Committee 'Sunny' Jim Lowrie (see him in action here:)


managed to spill a few beans to a Scotsman journalist, who felt duty bound to allow the wider public to know that UNESCO seems to not have been entirely delighted by the scheme, and is waiting for the culprits to come clean about what on earth they were playing at.

http://www.eh8.org.uk/unesco_saltes_caltongate_the_scotsman_17_feb_09

It should also be pointed out that 'Sunny' Jim is on the Board of Edinburgh World Heritage Trust (a registered charity); quite how he squares that role with his desire to vote through anything and everything which EWH seems to feel not appropriate for the city is possibly a puzzle to many. Let's see how he votes when the plans for the St James' Centre redevelopment come before his planning committee. Heritage and other bodies have all objected, but naturally the council planners have recommended passing the plans.

Latest critical comment is Wilson's Weekly Wrap, on the Architecture Scotland website today:

http://www.architecturescotland.co.uk/news/1250/Wilson%27s_Weekly_Wrap%3A_You_and_me_and_rain_on_the_roof%2C_The_best_is_yet_to_come_%26_Trumped.html

Given that Mountgrange (one of its Directors serves as a commissioner for English Heritage) seems to have (allegedly) gone financially tits up, and rumoured as trying to get cash to keep the sinking Caltongate afloat from that rock of the finance world the Royal Bank of Scotland, I cannot think many will shed a tear really for its demise.

As Mr Wilson says: Time then for a proper (i.e. not developer-led) appraisal of what this site really needs and what this part of the Old Town can actually absorb. In other European cities such a study would form the basis for an international design competition: here we can only dream of such things.

Meanwhile, Edinburgh City Council apparently has cash in trust to 'temporarily' landscape the site until such time as something can be done permanently. No doubt it will be rushing to spend it. Possibly it can look at the buildings standing empty also, and consider re-letting those.

Edinburgh World Heritage Trust continues its good work in the teeth of such problems, and news from its website is that a Conservation Plan has now been drwan up for Riddle's Court, also in the Old Town:

http://www.ewht.org.uk/Riddles-Court-secrets-revealed.aspx

The conservation statement prepared by consultant Andrew Wright brings together for the first time a combination of archival sources along with a detailed site inspection. His research throws a new light on many aspects of the building.

There is some archival evidence that the lime harling of the exterior walls had at one time been a startling yellow with window margins tinted a pinkish red, some of which still survives on site.

Of particular interest is a stone hood on the south wall of the inner court, considered to be a rare survival from a hoist, suggesting that the upper storey was used as a merchant’s warehouse.

Additionally, a fresh appeal for funds has been launched in order to complete the excellent conservation work at Well Court:

http://www.ewht.org.uk/Well-Court---the-finishing-touch.aspx

See also the Related Links section at the bottom right of that page for more.

It's not all bad news!


Nem

The Canongate Project - the movie!

Brilliant!

http://independentrepublicofthecanongate.blogspot.com/2009/02/canongate-project-film-on-youtube.html

And also worth reading (and watching the linked award-winning movie) is today's blog about the Garvald breadmakers of Edinburgh:

http://independentrepublicofthecanongate.blogspot.com/

http://breadmakersfilm.blogspot.com/

It is still a living, working community, despite the best efforts of the council to 'regenerate' by a bit of social cleansing, the usual mix of commercial schemes of dubious architectural merit, and yet more sterile developments which seem to have liitle to do with what local people actually want.

The Nem Republic has also kindly been added to the LINKS section of the Bath Heritage Watchdog website, and more will be appearing in this blog soon.

http://www.bathheritagewatchdog.org/index.html

http://www.bathheritagewatchdog.org/links.htm

As the site isn't a blog I can't add it to the Blogger links list at the right, but it's an outstanding example (along with the Independent Republic of the Canongate) of what a bunch of determined people can achieve who care about their World Heritage Site and their city, and who feel that the planning process is frequently stacked against the best interests of conservation. I adore Bath and read the site avidly, to keep up with what is happening there.

Information is power!

Nem

Save Our Old Town!

(Click to enlarge)

A Press Release has just pinged its way into the Nemesis Republic inbox from the Canongate Community Forum.

Here it is:

"Opportunity for city council to rescue Canongate from the ashes of Mountgrange" say campaigners

With Caltongate Developers Mountgrange in financial distress, a window of opportunity has arrived for city planners and the council to reconsider their stand on how the New Street Site is to be developed.

The buildings at risk from demolition should be bought back to life and serve the community and city’s needs once again and the council should freeze all work on land sales to Mountgrange in present situation, say Save Our Old Town campaigners today.

A UNESCO report singles out for criticism the way Caltongate scheme was approved by the authorities despite protests from a host of heritage groups and the community.

Earlier this week responding to this UNESCO report, which the council have just received Jim Lowrie, the council’s planning convenor, told The Scotsman -

"(The report] does criticise us over the Caltongate development. We are going to have to look at (that] before we respond in detail."

The campaigners are continuing to call on the council to uphold the decision to use the £100,000 Bond from Mountgrange to allow a temporary landscape scheme to be implemented on the New Street gap site.

The Old Town campaigners are to present the results from a year long project at a seminar this Saturday which decision makers as well as the public have been invited to attend.

Key Findings of the Report are likely to prove embarrassing to planners and politicians.

They include:

Having a living world heritage site in the city centre came out as a top priority but housing policies and city development fails to support this.

There is an urgent need for community facilities and spaces.

There is a clear lack of 'public' responsibility in the management of public space.

Small independent and start up businesses require support and initiatives.

Opportunities and sites for community development should be identified.

Urban communities should get access to '”community right to buy”

Pressure on council to keep a properly accounted and managed register of Common Good Land & Assets.

No more “selling off of the family silver” and no more privatisation of public space.

Over the year opinion was sampled from residents and public -

79% want social & affordable housing
77% want family housing
77% want play parks/areas for children & teenagers
70% want a better mix of shops
62% want more grassed areas & trees
57% want artist's working facilities

Report Launch Event Saturday 21st February

2pm The Scottish Storytelling Centre, 43-45 High St. Edinburgh (John Knox’s House)


More information and details of launch see -

http://www.eh8.org.uk/

http://independentrepublicofthecanongate.blogspot.com/2009/02/report-launch-at-storytelling-centre-21.html

The pictures above are (top) the Canongate Venture, former school then business start up facility, a listed building in a conservation area, to be sold by the council for demolition in order to build a conference centre (despite the fact existing conference centres are losing money and staff are being made redundant). Below, the listed Sailor's Ark (a former hostel for seamen) and the Ebenezer MacRae (city architect) model housing tenements. These are to be made the facades (the rest to be demolished) of a five star Sofitel hotel. A new high pend or opening will be driven through to access the new development. This is the Canongate, part of the Royal Mile and Edinburgh's World Heritage Site.

For further pictures and information see the http://www.eh8.org.uk/ site.

Nem

More Old Town (and New)

A brief update: see http://nemesisrepublic.blogspot.com/2009/02/old-town.html

Seems someone, somewhere has been leaking like a sieve about the UNESCO report regarding Edinburgh's World Heritage Site and the UNESCO mission.

Whoops.
http://independentrepublicofthecanongate.blogspot.com/2009/02/unesco-slates-caltongate.html


It will be interesting to hear the excuse of a council's excuses.

Meanwhile, the World Heritage Trust is planning on putting solar panels on listed buildings as a trial.

http://www.ewht.org.uk/Renewable-Heritage-Project.aspx

Ugly but at least reversible, when something new comes along. That's unlike Caltongate.

Renewable Heritage Project

"A ground-breaking project has started this month, installing solar water heating panels on the roofs of seven B-listed Georgian tenements in the heart of World Heritage Site.

The £200,000 Renewable Heritage project, benefiting social housing properties, is being run in partnership with Edinburgh World Heritage, Changeworks, Lister Housing Co-operative, eaga Charitable Trust and The City of Edinburgh Council, who have granted all permissions for the work.

Renewable energy installations in listed properties are extremely rare, especially in multi-occupancy buildings such as tenements.

Renewable Heritage is ground-breaking not only because the work is being carried out on listed tenements in the World Heritage Site, but also because the pipework will be run down to serve all flats possible. The panels should provide over 50% of the annual hot water requirement of 49 properties, even those at basement level.

The project will provide a model for others living in historic homes to generate their own free, clean energy. A guide to installing all types of micro-renewable technology on older and historic buildings, will be launched at a national conference in May 2009.

Adam Wilkinson, Director of Edinburgh World Heritage, said: "Fuel poverty and sustainable energy are very much on the agenda at the moment, and 75% of the buildings within the World Heritage Site are listed. So it is essential to establish good practice and pass it on to the residents who make the Site such a vibrant place. This study will help dispel the myth that historic buildings are neither energy efficient, nor capable of being sensitively retrofitted with sustainable energy measures.”

As part of the Renewable Heritage project, a comprehensive good practice guide for householders and professionals is being published in May 2009. This will be launched at a conference at The Hub in Edinburgh on Friday 15 May 2009."


http://news.scotsman.com/scotland/Georgian-tenements-get-solar-heating.4983265.jp

http://www.ewht.org.uk/Energy-Heritage-Project.aspx

Nem

PS pic above shamelessly nicked from the EWH website. Lovely buildings.

Old Town

To add to this morning's blog, here's a piece from Joanna Blythman in the Sunday Herald which made me cheer (this isn't fiction citizens, Caltongate was for real):

for more details read http://www.eh8.org.uk/

Grand failure offers green light for green space

REJOICE!

CALTONGATE,Edinburgh's grandiose £300 million development project, looks dead in the water because the company behind it, Mountgrange, has run out of dosh. The company has clocked up a loss of £24m and is so indebted that there is "a material uncertainty that casts doubts over the company's ability to continue as a going concern". As someone who always thought the Caltongate project was a crock of ordure, I won't shed a tear if Mountgrange goes down the pan, taking its ill-conceived plan with it.The Caltongate scheme, in the now-ubiquitous phoney language employed by puffed-up councillors, posturing architects who fancy themselves as latter-day Le Corbusiers, and Flash Harry speculators, was to contain "an eclectic mix of offices, retail, residential, leisure and hotel facilities". It was to add a "vibrant and attractive new business and cultural quarter" to the capital. What that meant, in practical terms, was historic buildings and people's homes being demolished to make way for five-star hotels, a second conference centre, more yuppie flats, the inevitable supermarket, a "signature" office building (spare us the pretension) and yet another coven of Claire's Accessories, Clinton Cards and Costas - as if we needed another dose of property developer's quack miracle regenerating formula...

Continued here:

http://www.sundayherald.com/oped/opinion/display.var.2489244.0.grand_failure_offers_green_light_for_green_space.php

Edinburgh Community Backgreens Association:

http://www.ecba.org.uk/home.aspx

Pause for breath (updated)

I had intended to write a little about the English Heritage circular regarding proposed alterations to Part L of the building regs and historic buildings which dropped into many an e-mail inbox yesterday, but as both Confessions of a Conservation Officer and Caius Plinius beat me to it, I therefore commend readers to the eloquence of their blogs (links in the right column) and the comments sections under. The picture above has some connection...

STOP PRESS

Caltongate on the brink of collapse!

Hooray!

See side column for the blog, and http://www.eh8.org.uk/ for more details and background.

http://edinburghnews.scotsman.com/topstories/Caltongate-on-the-brink-of.4963189.jp#3743266

I will be back, dear readers, later in the day with more.

Update: 10.00 pm: Odd what began this morning as a small rant aginst the horrors of what 'updating' historic buildings can bring ( I think I will leave that until tomorrow) ends with very different news.

An update (see comments from Neighbours in the Woods http://neighboursinthewoods.blogspot.com/) re the Chilterns Water Mill story http://nemesisrepublic.blogspot.com/2009/02/chilterns-water-mill-grand-designs_07.html

and http://nemesisrepublic.blogspot.com/2009/02/grand-designs-and-that-watermill.html

"You might like to check out the channel4 comments page for this episode again. They have deleted the post that referred to his gaudi shopfront, as well as one other that referred to him as a "self-righteous city prig" - which I also personally found a bit unnecessarily vituperative - whatever our feelings might be about the guy. However they have left posts that describe us as "nosey","jealous", "petty", "small-minded", "interfering busy-body" and "spoilers". "

Oooh - censorhsip Channel4? And a glance at the related blog reveals more censorship. Interesting. Hope Caius has not had his post removed, nor NB's which links to Confessions of a Conservation Officer blog (click on the green NB).

I note also that Mountgrange's spin machine is spinning re Caltongate, in Edinburgh's World Heritage Site, back soon with more...

In the meanwhile, do read this:

http://www.eh8.org.uk/mountgrange_s_spin_doctors

http://independentrepublicofthecanongate.blogspot.com/search?q=Mark+Cummings

11pm: here's Mark Cummings spinning like a Whirling Dervish (on TV also, looking v worried):

http://news.stv.tv/scotland/75196-losses-wont-delay-caltongate-project/

Nem