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Edinburgh Airport foregoes planes for homes and offices

July 10 2017

Edinburgh Airport foregoes planes for homes and offices
Edinburgh Airport is to sacrifice a back-up crosswind runway, used when the main runway is out of operation, in favour of homes, industry and offices on 100 acres of land on the outskirts of the city.

Occupying land to the south east of the current terminal building and reaching out toward the Gogar roundabout the uncosted scheme would be made viable by way of a new terminal access road, assisted by the opening of Edinburgh Gateway Station, placing it in direct competition with unrealized plans for an International Business Gateway.

This is likely to increase disruption during essential maintenance work but insists that recent advances in aircraft technology had made the asset largely redundant. Increased passenger demand has already led to Edinburgh Airport reserving land for a second runway in parallel to the current strip, estimating that this would need to be built by 2050 based on current projections.

An arm’s length body known as Crosswind Developments will manage the build, led by John Watson, the airport’s former chief commercial officer. He said: "There is a really great opportunity in the west of Edinburgh, to build infrastructure from which future generations benefit.

"We will be investing significantly in the land opened up by the closure of the second runway and will work with other developers in the area to promote the wider opportunity we believe exists."

Subject to planning permission it is hoped that work may begin next year.
'High-end' offices and a 'modest' number mof new homes would be provided
'High-end' offices and a 'modest' number mof new homes would be provided
Edinburgh Airport will directly fund construction of a required access road
Edinburgh Airport will directly fund construction of a required access road

The northern half of the Crosswind Runway will be reserved for terminal development and more stands, with the southern half making way for the new masterplan
The northern half of the Crosswind Runway will be reserved for terminal development and more stands, with the southern half making way for the new masterplan

10 Comments

TepidMouse
#1 Posted by TepidMouse on 10 Jul 2017 at 16:48 PM
Well those first pictures look like something from 60's Livingston or Cumbernauld. And I'm not sure who would want to live right next to an airport?! Aviation fuel wafting across your morning coffee. Deary me.
basho
#2 Posted by basho on 10 Jul 2017 at 17:09 PM
An improvement in road infrastructure in this area is to be welcomed. A bizarre melange of purple towers that look like set designs from Miami Vice - not so much. (I know they're only concept drawings, but... oh boy.)
What would be far more welcome are proposals for the total redevelopment of the airport terminal. It is far too small for the vast number of passengers it handles, and is a shambolic nightmare every time I use it. Instead all we get are piecemeal additions, usually stuffed full of more shops.
If any place in Scotland is now desperately crying out for an architectural competition it's Edinburgh Airport.
Hilloch
#3 Posted by Hilloch on 10 Jul 2017 at 18:24 PM
What crappy visualisations. Why do some have the cars coloured in and others not? Also the classic floating building syndrome - they can't fly like the plane! Just lazy.
They'd have been better not showing any visuals at all.
As for the 'architecture'...
David Graham
#4 Posted by David Graham on 10 Jul 2017 at 20:53 PM
Agree with the aforementioned comments regarding the design of this scheme, it looks like it has been pulled out of a 1960s archive.
Regarding any redevelopment of Edinburgh Airport, surely Glasgow International and Prestwick should be of a greater priorty? Edinburgh Airport has had great sums of public money thrown at it at the expense of the Glasgow airports, it makes sense for our largest city to be at least matched in terms of investment. Expand Terminal 2 to make it a proper fully fledged terminal and not just another check in area, have high speed train lines constructed from the airport to the rest of central Scotland, that way people in Stirling, Livingston, Edinburgh, Falkirk etc. can reach Glasgow International much more easily. As for Glasgow Prestwick, it should focus more on cargo operations (in a similar way to East Midlands) and try to use a similar model to London City for passenger flights: short haul, high frequency domestic and European routes
Glenferguson
#5 Posted by Glenferguson on 11 Jul 2017 at 07:47 AM
I agree with david, Glasgow airport could do with a bigger terminal and also some more gates with a rail link also, i don't think it's just this project but a huge amount of money gets thrown at edinburgh as a whole.
FitzHat
#6 Posted by FitzHat on 11 Jul 2017 at 14:27 PM
This looks like very short-term thinking on the part of the airport. They appear to be sacrificing the future expansion potential of a key airport to raise some cash for shareholders. I hope that the planning authority and government seriously consider whether it is in the regional and national interest to allow this to go ahead.
Trombe Wall
#7 Posted by Trombe Wall on 12 Jul 2017 at 09:02 AM
The images say it all - no site specific design, just a series of massive lumps to lay on a piece of land sandwiched between a major road, railway, runway and sea of car parking.

It's a Gyle-is-old-news, lets ignore it and try again on the bit we own, development.
Stevie
#8 Posted by Stevie on 12 Jul 2017 at 13:05 PM
Miami Vice!
Daniel
#9 Posted by Daniel on 14 Jul 2017 at 11:06 AM
I'd actually be into this, were it to happen.

But it won't - it'll just be the Gyle mk2, the same sea of terrible low-rise office boxes surrounded by car parks, but with a good measure of volume housebuilder garbage thrown in as well because it's 2017 and we're all about quote-unquote mixed developments.
Terra
#10 Posted by Terra on 26 Apr 2022 at 02:31 AM
Stick to runways, ya bas!

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