August 3 2018

Edinburgh’s latest student housing build has received approval from City of Edinburgh Council, enabling delivery to proceed on 105 en-suite studio flats overlooking the Water of Leith.

Designed by Kenneth Reid Architects the scheme will take the place of the former Crosskeys Pub on Lanark Road and takes the form of four separate blocks with a reception and break-out space situated on the ground floor of the central courtyard block.

In a statement the city’s development management sub-committee wrote: “The proposal is acceptable in principle and is of a suitable design form and scale which will not have an adverse impact on the character and appearance of the surrounding area.

“The proposal does not raise any issues in respect of parking, road safety, landscaping, tree retention, biodiversity, flood prevention, waste provision, or equalities and human rights; and will not have a detrimental impact on the setting of any listed buildings, the amenity of neighbouring residents or development of a site of archaeological significance. The minor infringement of green belt policy is considered to be acceptable in this case.”

Finished in white roughcast and red facing brick the building will measure 16.9m in height at its highest point.

6 Comments

#1 Posted by boaby wan on 3 Aug 2018 at 14:42 PM

Kenneth has a lot to answer for with his recent proposals.

#2 Posted by Gringo on 3 Aug 2018 at 16:39 PM

Bloody hell, that is one ugly clusterfuck of a design Kenneth Reid!

How did you come up with those junctions? Sheer bad luck?

#3 Posted by Kenneth Reid Watch on 3 Aug 2018 at 17:24 PM

#1 Indeed. The image is truly horrific.
I can't believe this has been granted permission!
What about design quality CEC?..not close to listed buildings, not in a conservation area and no where near the rectal gazing, sacred museum of the World Heritage site, so anything goes...as Kenneth Reid 'Architects" have demonstrated on a number of occasions of late.
Total joke.

#4 Posted by Kenneth Reid Fishing on 5 Aug 2018 at 17:31 PM

It could be the giant fluorescent coral, the floating car, or the strange house filled with bubbles, but is this not one of those plastic fish tank decorations?
Still a pants design even then.

#5 Posted by Natalie Portman on 5 Aug 2018 at 20:34 PM

I faced the same mass out the back in Annihilation. Though i'll take my chances in that rather than those flats.....

#6 Posted by Egbert on 7 Aug 2018 at 12:09 PM

#3 It sits at the end of a good, coherent terraced group which includes the B-listed C18th Slateford House at the far end, so I'm frankly flabbergasted that this was allowed through at all. This stretch of the Water of Leith - a hugely characterful one, with the interplay of the railway bridge and aquaduct above with the meandering river below - has been well and truly gubbed by recent planning decisions, as the massive Sainsbury's on stilts just the other side of the canal will attest.

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