Housing plans emerge for former Edinburgh sorting office
October 7 2014
Designed by Ian Springford Architects and Harrison Stevens Landscape Architects the scheme will place apartment blocks in parallel with Brunswick Road to reinforce the street edge
These will be clad in blonde brick with pre cast concrete string courses topped by simple glass pavilions on the roof.
In their design statement Ian Springford say: “The apartment blocks are entered from the car park level at the north of the site and Brunswick Road to the south. Depending on the road level, this is at first floor level for a number of apartment blocks.
“We have used Edinburgh’s New Town as a model for this arrangement with pedestrian bridges connecting street and building. The residential buildings are split into three blocks with landscaped gardens between. These create pedestrian links and permeability through the site from north to south.”
The scheme supercedes an earlier bid to provide 238 new homes on the same plot which was refused planning on the basis of a lack of larger three bedroom homes and poor architectural quality.
A total of 43 affordable homes are included in the plans
Communal landscaping will buffer car parking to the rear
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6 Comments
#1 Posted by KB on 7 Oct 2014 at 16:24 PM
Very, very nice
#2 Posted by Sven on 7 Oct 2014 at 21:53 PM
It looks banal and uninteresting. I think it is the 'blonde bricks'. It is too 1980s and too English. Blond ashlar would make it less fussy and make it fit in with the surrounding housing. St Vincent Place, is a good example of high quality apartments that look modern and traditional at the same time.
#3 Posted by Art Vandelay on 7 Oct 2014 at 23:04 PM
*cough* Laurieston *cough*
#4 Posted by Stephen on 9 Oct 2014 at 23:43 PM
It's a bit boxy and the proportions seem somehow a bit squat and elongated (maybe just the renderings). Not hideous but needs a bit of work - detailing etc. Agree with no. 3. It's quite derivative. Just needs pushing a bit harder.
Also, why do we insist on building in brick just because it's fashionable in London (thinking Duggan Morris, WWM et al) and looks cool in all the magazines? London was built of brick. Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen etc are stone cities.
Also, why do we insist on building in brick just because it's fashionable in London (thinking Duggan Morris, WWM et al) and looks cool in all the magazines? London was built of brick. Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen etc are stone cities.
#5 Posted by Cadmonkey on 10 Oct 2014 at 00:13 AM
"Banal and uninteresting" has clearly never been to this site. The modest understated nature of this design should be applauded. From these images it appears it will be the best building in the area by a considerable margin. It does seem to be a tad out of scale though. Where are they getting their bricks from? I thought bricks were extinct.
#6 Posted by T.Heath on 8 Feb 2015 at 17:46 PM
Hm looks like the car has conquered over accessible , safe, pleasant green areas for children once again! All those car parking spaces and a sprinkling of greenery which is unfenced and uninteresting - no imagination and no adherence to the Play Strategy for Scotland 2014 which claims that new builds will take acvount of the needs of children in creating spaces which include them!!! Car parks belong underground in this age of increasing motor ownership or there will soon be nowhere for children - or adults - to play at all ! Whets the imagination and inspiration to create wonderful places for communities to thrive!!! So sad.
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