April 28 2020

Caledonia Housing Association has secured the backing of an overwhelming majority of tenants to press ahead with a £30m regeneration package for Bellsmyre, West Dunbartonshire.

A total of 248 votes were cast with 97.2% of these favouring replacement of 250 rundown flats with 150 new build homes, preceding a further £3m investment in upgrading remaining homes and neighbourhoods over the next five years.      

Julie Cosgrove, chief executive of Caledonia Housing Association, said: “We are pleased that the people of Bellsmyre have put their trust in us to invest in the area for the benefit of everyone in the community. We have given a promise to maintain a local team in the area and all tenancy rights will be retained.  Once the formalities are completed, we look forward to progressing our plans without delay.”

As part of this work the association, with ECD Architects, is building 66 affordable homes on Muir Road and 49 new homes at Bonhill, on the site of the former Highdykes Primary.

4 Comments

#1 Posted by Sue Pearman on 28 Apr 2020 at 11:16 AM

Just an observation but to me it looks like they're replacing like for like with the same basic issues - no defensible space, no clarity of ownership for peripheral space, poor materials (render) and basically low cost poor design... or is that a bit harsh?

#2 Posted by Chris on 28 Apr 2020 at 12:00 PM

Nah it looks guff.

#3 Posted by wonky on 28 Apr 2020 at 12:46 PM

When a 'masterplan' consists of 80% of the land being reserved for cars then it tells you everything you need to know about the designers and the wider society. Do these planners have even a cursory familiarisation with the concept of sustainability? Are they aware of driverless vehicles and automation? Why do we persist with white-render in the West of Scotland? Why are structures randomly plonked on plots with no correlation on cohesion to co-existing structures? I'm reminded of the 'masterplan' of Pollokshaws, where the existing street template ought to serve as an insurance policy for high density urban design, yet is sabotaged by randomly dropping a mix of opposing structures onto the topography- is this some attempt to artificially create the messiness of organically developed places? Is randomly plonking structures onto topography the new peacemaking? Do planners and designers actually visit, as in physically recci the places, the sites they are 'masterplanning'?

#4 Posted by urbanrealm on 19 May 2020 at 16:05 PM

The main image has been updated with a more recent sketch of the current proposals. More info is coming soon.

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