May 28 2021

S1 Developments with 7N Architects have lodged plans to extend a Merchiston tenement by replacing warehousing with 46 new-build apartments.

96 Temple Park Crescent will rehabilitate a brownfield site with dual-fronted infill that repairs the street with low-level garden walls and greenery and provides shared amenity gardens backing onto the Union Canal. An access route to the south is entered via electric gates at the Polwarth Place junction.

Finished in rustic red multi-brick the homes will sit under mansard roof elements which will house extensive roof terraces with dormer and gable projections consciously tying in with immediate neighbours.

In a design overview, 7N wrote: "The building frontages have been designed to contribute to an interesting and varied streetscape to both the street and canal-side elevations whilst ensuring a contextual response to the surrounding architecture in both form and height."

Works will necessitate the removal of 13 trees along the canal classed as being in 'poor' condition, the loss of which shall be mitigated through new planting, including a communal growing space for residents to produce fruit, vegetables and herbs.

Nine flats will be classed as affordable with the remainder offered for private rent. 

9 Comments

#1 Posted by tree hugger on 28 May 2021 at 09:58 AM

the proposed removal of five no. trees outside the development boundary.

#2 Posted by Cadmonkey on 28 May 2021 at 11:11 AM

Really nice proposal.
Id have mixed brick types a bit on street facade, but apart from that its a big YES from this jury.
(Should they not be providing 11/12 affordable flats though?)

#3 Posted by Peter on 28 May 2021 at 11:22 AM

@1 So?

#4 Posted by David on 28 May 2021 at 11:51 AM

Pretty awful proposal. Clunky, inelegant and totally jarring with its surroundings. Materials don't look like they are particularly high quality.

#5 Posted by tree hugger on 28 May 2021 at 12:05 PM

@ Peter, the trees are out width the ownership boundary and are part of the Union Canal wildlife corridor.

#6 Posted by Offended by bricks on 28 May 2021 at 12:55 PM

Looks pretty smart.
Consistent with the current obsession to build everything as brick boxes.
At least we've moved past the horrors of the previous obsessions with bare cedar and before that smooth white render, although the latter was maybe more a Glasgow thing.

#7 Posted by Peter on 28 May 2021 at 16:38 PM

@5 Hugger, you should be much more cincerned about Sosnowsky's hogweed - it's definitely not a nice plant to have around. Visuals, however, suggests the area is peppered with this extra-toxic plant. That aside, this building is a much welcomed upgrade of this shady industrial strip.

#8 Posted by James on 1 Jun 2021 at 11:13 AM

@5 It's worth having a read of the tree survey and the proposed landscape plan. The existing trees are identified as presenting a safety risk, and the proposed trees are heavy standard / semi-mature. A managed approach to the new landscape along with appropriate planning conditions would likely represent an improvement to the wildlife corridor / biodiversity over time.

#9 Posted by Jane Sanders on 19 Jun 2021 at 10:56 AM

Totally out of keeping with the adjacent tenement and the low rise Mac & Mic style housing opposite. Great to see the site redeveloped, but the design is hideous and the materials are not sympathetic to either the sandstone tenement adjacent or the semi-detached houses opposite

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