Urban Realm issue 32

VOL7 ISSUE32 WINTER 2017

C O L L E CT I VE MI GH T DIY HOUSING UR100 PROCUREMENT RIBA

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M

I F TO AN ES

As 2018 dawns we mark the New Year with the return of our definitive study of the top architectural practices currently at work (pg 20). Cumulation of months of research it highlights the present state of play in a fast changing profession.

(pg 72), as Rab Bennetts speaks up for many with a detailed exposition of the many challenges which the profession must needs to surmount. It is a cudgel which Urban Realm will be returning to throughout the year.

That success is well evidenced by Page\ Park by way of their newly unveiled Hawkhead Centre (pg 12). Designed to cater for all the senses it’s a vision which brings tactile and auditory solutions to the table.

Another campaigning issue for us is housing, a scandal which unites us all but as yet has precious few answers. Over the coming year Urban Realm will be focussing on this issue as we presage a year of wider efforts to deal with a seemingly intractable problem.

If the grassroots is in rude health the same cannot be said for the RIAS which finds itself embroiled in one of the biggest challenges since its formation in 1840.

Vindicating at least one of the charges levelled against it they remain tight-lipped, leaving it to the RIBA to fill the vacuum (pg 57).

Elsewhere we delve into that perennial bugbear of every architect, procurement

In that vein Peter Wilson investigates a collective custom build in Portobello (pg 64) which stands apart as a beacon amidst the January gloom.

Settle down with a glass of your favourite tipple as we kick-start our coverage for another year.

John Glenday, Editor

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CONT ENTS QUARTERLY DIGEST 12 HAWKHEAD CENTRE 20 UR100 40 PARK OF KEIR 50 EDINBURGH NEW TOWN 57 RIBA 64 BATH STREET COLLECTIVE 72 PROCUREMENT 80 HOUSING PRESSURES 82 BRE 88 SEASIDE RETREAT 96 DIRECTORY 97 PRODUCTS 04

Cover image: Bath Street Collective Custom Build, photography by John Reiach

OUR EDITORIAL PANEL INCLUDES:

John Glenday

Mark Chalmers, architecture writer and photographer

Leslie Howson, director Urban Design

Paul Stallan, director, Stallan-Brand

Chris Stewart, Rab Bennetts, director, Collective founding director Bennetts Associates Architecture

Alistair Scott, director, Smith Scott Mullan

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DRAWING INSPIRATION FOR PROFESSIONAL ARCHITECTS, THERE MUST BE FEW CHALLENGES MORE EXCITING THAN DESIGNING YOUR VERY OWN FAMILY HOME AND WORKSPACE. THIS WAS THE CASE FOR BEN AND ROSEMARY SCRIMGEOUR, OWNERS OF BUILDING WORKSHOP, WHO CREATED THEIR AFFECTIONATELY-NAMED HUMPTY HOUSE FROM SCRATCH. As you might expect, everything in the build is bespoke – from the steel roof and staircase to the oversized shutters and even the kitchen draw pulls. Located near Kirriemiur, Angus, the Humpty House enjoys views over the beautiful Lintrathen Loch and is surrounded by mature woodland.

The design is a 21st century interpretation of a traditional rural agricultural structure. Half drawing office and half family home, the exterior is clad in Russwood vacuum-coated Siberian Larch, painted a warm cream to subtly enhance the natural backdrop and soften the exposed steel and glass. Inside, the clients selected Russwood oak flooring in long wide boards, which they have oiled with white osmo oil. Upstairs, Russwood supplied solid pine, which the clients have painted.

Rosemary Scrimgeour said: “In Russwood we were able to find a good quality product from a friendly Scottish company, and the possibility of finishing the oak with our chosen oil to achieve exactly the finish we were looking for.

We received lots of help in selecting the materials and were always made to feel very welcome when visiting the showroom.”

Architect: The Building Workshop Photography: Nigel Rigden Product: Vacuum coated SILA A/B® Cladding in RW104 profile

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Q U A R T E R L Y D I G E S T O C T

BURRELL BOOST

BRIEFS

A major McAslan & Partners revamp of Glasgow’s Burrell Collection has taken a significant step forward following a decision by the National Lottery to award £15m in funding for the landmark refurbishment.

Glasgow City Council has named Keepmoat Homes as preferred developer for 826 homes designed by Collective Architecture and LDA at Sighthill.

The £100m project will include retail and commercial components as well as a footbridge across the M8, a road bridge over the railway to Port Dundas, a community campus and newly landscaped parkland with infrastructure work expected to conclude by late 2019.

The cash will contribute toward a £66m package of works, including the redisplay of 9,000 objects to optimize circulation and fully open up all three floors of the 1983 A-listed building.

Shetland Islands Council have assumed ownership of Anderson High School and an accompanying hall of residence following completion of the £56m build by Morrison Construction.

Designed by Ryder Architecture the school will accommodate up to 1,180 pupils with a 100 bed residential annex, offering boarding facilities for pupils travelling from further afield.

CREATIVE SPARK

VERTICAL DISTILLERY

Stallan-Brand Architects, acting on behalf of Paisley Community Trust, have revealed ambitious plans to create a translucent creative centre as part of efforts to kickstart a ‘cultural and creative quarter’ in time for its 2021 City of Culture bid.

Baker Street Paisley will offer a cinema of up to five screens in addition to a 500seat theatre – together with associated rehearsal rooms, offices, gardens, a bar and restaurant.

Threesixty Architecture with Muckle Brig have submitted plans for a purpose-built distillery at Port of Leith, Edinburgh.

Intended to convey an exciting and modern image for the Scotch whisky industry the scheme eschews horizontal warehouses and pagodas for a vertical production plant capable of producing 400,000 litres of pure alcohol. By using the adjacent harbour as a heat sink the distillery will significantly reducing the volume of water required.

SHOPPING MECCA 7N have filed their latest planning application for their Fraser Avenue development at Inverkeithing, Fife. Conceived as a civic pavilion the shops will adopt a domestic scale, sitting below a linear pitched roof, meeting the street by way of a colonnaded walkway when complete at the end of next year.

URBAN REALM WINTER 2017 URBANREALM.COM

Kengo Kuma has toured Dundee’s dramatic V&A Museum ahead of its public unveil in the summer, praising the ‘strong façade’ and ‘dynamic scale of the interior’.

Seeing the finished exterior of his £80.1m creation for the first time Kuma praised progress made thus far which sees the cliff-like cast stone panels of the V&A’s norther outpost reach out into the River Tay. Plans to transform Ayrshire’s A-listed Loudoun Castle estate into a £450m leisure destination have stepped up a gear with Harcourt Investments expected to lend its financial muscle to the project.

Loudoun Woods are hoping to restore the castle, currently just a shell, as the centerpiece hotel at the heart of 576 acres of landscaped grounds and tourist attractions; including holiday lodges, camping facilities, tree houses, sports grounds and a tropical-themed indoor swimming pool.

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Q U A R T E R L Y O C T D I G E S T ‘DE-FURBISHED’ OFFICES LAID BARE

VICTORIA HOSPITAL RE-BIRTH

Hazledene House have extended a trend for ‘de-furbished’ office space with extension of a B-listed Princes Street townhouse to form 11,000sq/ft of upper floor accommodation.

132 Princes Street has been designed by 3DReid to offer tenants a mix of a modern finish complete with exposed services, brick, concrete and steel to offer a characterful alternative to a generic open plan office.

Sanctuary Homes and Collective Architecture have drafted plans for the creation of 413 new homes at Glasgow’s Victoria Infirmary; including office space within the B-listed administration building and retail.

Working in concert with structural engineer Harley Haddow and Brindley Associates as landscape architect the project will include a mix of refurbished and new build properties at the 3.75 acre site – 25% of which will be classed as affordable.

BRIEFS Fielden Clegg Bradley Studios have prepared plans for a new specialist research facility at the University of Edinburgh in a final phase of works to overhaul the School of Biological Science.

Following on from the practices work at the Darwin Building, accessible directly by way of a first-floor entrance, the build is being overseen by engineers WYG and landscape architects HarrisonStevens.

Cassilton Housing Association are pressing ahead with a twin regeneration drive at Barlia Terrace, Castlemilk, delivering a 22-home flatted block and separate 12 home development complete with dedicated sun spaces by early 2019.

Alternating red and buff brickwork will be used by Mast Architects to distinguish adjacent flats with the smaller build adopting a ‘Dutch Gable’ style to bring interest and rhythm to the street.

GEOLOGY LESSONS Stallan-Brand Architects have left no stone unturned for a new intergenerational school’s campus in Jedburgh that draws its inspiration from geological formations.

Working alongside Borders Council,

Hub South East, BAM and TGP, the team are set to deliver a 434 -space primary, 550 pupil secondary and a nursery faced with linear masonry ‘ribbons’ and curtain wall glazing which follows the site topography.

Parabola, owner of 50 acres of developable land to the south of Edinburgh Park, have unveiled a Dixon Jones produced masterplan to create 750,000sq/ ft of commercial space, 1,800 homes and a civic square.

A range of landscaped amenity space will be offered within this including sports grounds, a doctor’s surgery and energy centre with Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands and Allford Hall Monaghan Morris serving as residential and commercial architects respectively.

Canadian developer Carttera has staged a public consultation into its latest development proposals for Rubislaw Quarry, drafting plans for 300 ‘undulating’ PRS flats, a bistro, walkway, function room and gym.

Superceding a previously consented office block the latest plans, designed by the IBI Group with Aurora Planning, will improve access to the 140m deep flooded quarry by erecting a public promenade.

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Q U A R T E R L Y D I G E S T N O V

NOT SO BONNIE

BRIEFS

A bid to significantly expand Glen Coe’s Kings House Hotel has elicited a backlash from the National Trust for Scotland (NTS) and the John Muir Trust owing to the potential adverse visual impact on the popular beauty spot.

Covell Matthews architects are seeking permission on behalf of Black Corries Estates to redevelop the historic hotel by removing dilapidated 1960’s built extensions and building a larger 60-room extension finished in Siberian larch above a granite base.

CLYDEBANK ENERGISED

HARBOUR MASTER

ADF Architects have submitted by to build a new energy centre to serve the £250m Queens Quay development in Clydebank, powering further expansion of the waterfront quarter with a new district heating network.

Capable of re-using previously wasted energy from power generation and other industrial sources the facility will be used to heat local homes and businesses.

Site enabling works have already been completed to allow a site access road and utilities to be built in the New Year, clearing the way for the energy centre.

Norr have handed over a new ferry terminal at Brodick on behalf of Caledonian Marine Assets to serve as a new ‘civic gateway’ to the island of Arran.

Part of a wider overhaul of the harbour the contemporary addition seeks to foster a sense of arrival and departure with a blend of ‘castle-like solidity’ and transparency, helping to mask the presence of an industrial estate.

Designed to facilitate the smooth and efficient passage of pedestrians and vehicles the project team included CH2M, Max Fordham, Doig + Smith and George Leslie.

RACING AHEAD ICA Architects are seeking planning consent from South Lanarkshire Council to build a 118bed Hampton by Hilton branded hotel within the grounds of Hamilton Park Racecourse.

Augmenting existing facilities the hotel will provide guest accommodation for race-goers and takes the form of a rendered linear block with pre-cast reconstituted stone details. Bookended by twin-gabled end elevations under a fibre-cement slate pitch roof to harmonise with the 1926 grandstand.

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Drum Group and Stallan-Brand have revealed their vision for a £350m mixed use scheme on the Clyde waterfront at Tradeston, the latest addition to its burgeoning development pipeline.

Buchanan Wharf will constitute a ‘new and distinctive quarter’ for Glasgow offering 1,000,000sq/ ft of office accommodation, 350 flats, a 150-bed hotel, cafes, restaurants, a crèche and creative spaces.

Drum has spent years assembling land in the area under, attaining planning permission in principle in January.

Norr Architects have brought forward plans to demolish Dale House, a disused bank on Glasgow’s West George Street, to enable construction of a 160 room Meininger Hotel.

Faced in limestone cladding to the front and white/buff brickwork to the rear and a black, glazed brick basecourse the hotel will bring a series of public realm improvements in its wake.

Delivered with Legal & General the professional team includes Blyth & Blyth, Harrison Stevens and Buro Happold.

NHS Grampian has opened a £10m Wood Group funded multi-storey car park at its Forresterhill campus, designed

by JM Architects.

Making use of a modular skin of metal panels to reflect natural light, an approach said to make the structure ‘unrecognizable’ as a car park, the facility provides space for up to 1,000 vehicles.

Heriot Watt University is to proceed with a £19m teaching space specialising in engineering, computing and maths after securing planning permission from The City of Edinburgh for the Sheppard Robson scheme.

To be built on the western outskirts of Edinburgh at the University’s Riccarton campus the 5,200sq/m building places an emphasis on collaborative learning and start-ups.

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Q U A R T E R L Y N O V D I G E S T HILTON BEDS DOWN

IVY LEAGUE

BRIEFS

Hampton by Hilton hotels have taken possession of a 228-bed venue in the west end of Edinburgh near Haymarket Station, to cater for growing visitor demand in the city.

ICA Architects were brought on board to extend and amend an existing 2013 consent by improving floor plan efficiency to eke out additional bedrooms.

A range of facilities have been included in the build such as meeting rooms, a fitness suite and a separate coffee shop.

Watkin Jones and Fletcher Joseph Architects have prepared finalised plans for a development of 401 student beds on the site of a former printworks at Kyle Street, Glasgow.

A mixture of studios and cluster flats will sit above ground floor retail, commercial units, a social room, gym and laundry, Faced predominantly in brick with deep reveals the scheme also includes areas of light composite stone panels, dark grey metal and green living wall gables.

A bid by Mactaggart and Mickel to build 114 flats at Dorchester Avenue, Glasgow, has won the all-clear from planners, allowing work to begin on the delivery of three accommodation blocks.

The Carson & Partners design is formed from a palette of textured brick the development includes large format windows with laser cut metal balconies inspired by surviving pattern books from MacFarlanes Ironworks in Springburn.

Andrew Black Design are expanding their newly opened Dundee studio at Tay Street Lane with the appointment of Hans Grabowski as a new associate.

Founded in 2002 the practice has set up shop within a C-listed mews property after remodeling the space to create a custom studio in the heart of the city’s cultural quarter.

TOWERING ACHIEVEMENT CCG have completed a £12m over-cladding of the University of Edinburgh’s Appleton Tower together with a new top floor, entrance and landscaping in the first of two phases of planned work.

Designed by LDN to respect the modernist design while improving its lifespan, services and accessibility the tower now boasts additional floorspace set aside for conferences and events.

CCG specialist building services Manager, Paul Muldoon, said: “The second phase, due for final completion winter 2017, has involved the extensive reconfiguration and refurbishment of teaching facilities over six floors which will improve the learning environment for both faculty and students.”

Upgraded thermal insulation also improves environmental performance while a reconfigured main entrance offers improved access for the disabled together with a top floor study and teaching space.

CCG, HarrisonStevens and Collective have delivered 94 colony-style homes at Leith Fort, completing a scheme first brought to planning by Malcolm Fraser Architects on behalf of Port of Leith Housing Association and City of Edinburgh Councill Adopting a modern twist on the colonies concept the homes are built as double flats with the upper flats front door on the opposite side to the lower portions front door.

Revised plans have been brought forward by Bennetts Associates to remodel Glasgow’s Citizen’s Theatre in order to remedy the ‘dilapidation and dysfunction’ of the venue as it exists currently.

Working alongside conservation architect Ian Parsons and fire engineers Atelier Ten the planned works include the creation of a polished metal and textured brick street frontage with neon signage and foyer space, together with a reconfiguaration and refurbishment of the B-listed auditorium and backstage areas.

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Q U A R T E R L Y D I G E S T D E C

BARMULLOCH Barmulloch residents are reaping the benefits of a new community centre following delivery of a flexible activity space suitable for dancing, socializing and delivery of welfare services by Collective Architecture.

BRIEFS Delivered by Barmulloch Community Development Company, Elmwood, Scott Bennett Associates and DMP, the glulam timber framed build is faced with locally sourced sandstone to offer a light-filled sanctuary.

East Ayrshire Council has taken possession of the 500 pupil capacity Whatriggs Primary and Early Education Centre in Kilmarnock, built by Morrison Construction.

Keppie were brought on board by the council’s architecture department to finesse their plans for the £12.4m campus, required to facilitate the amalgamation of two existing schools.

A delayed bid to convert a disused office block at 249 West George Street has sprung back to life with the resubmission of plans by Mosaic Architecture + Design to create the UK’s first Adina Apartment Hotel.

This ups the proposed accommodation at the fourstar hotel from 100 bedrooms to 110 by working with the fabric of the existing RichardSeifert designed building.

Page\Park and CCG have unwrapped a day centre for veterans with sight loss at the junction of Hawkhead and Barrhead Road’s, Paisley.

Conceived by Scottish War Blinded, the Hawkhead Centre sits beneath a dramatic soaring roof which has been likened to the aerodynamic wings of a fighter jet or Hawk. For more details see our full feature on pg 12.

PUMPED UP Glasgow’s former docks are now producing whisky for the first time in more than 100 years following the opening of Clydeside Distillery.

Situated within a converted pump house at Queen’s Dock, transformed into a visitor centre, shop and café, the distillery sees twin two tonne copper stills take pride of place in a contemporary glazed extension delivered by Hypostyle Architects, McLaughlin and Harvey, Thomas & Adamson and Bright3D.

MAC RAINCOAT The National Trust for Scotland is to throw a protective veil over Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s Hill House in Helensburgh amidst mounting concern for the buildings structural integrity.

Carmody Groarke Architects have been commissioned to create a vast enclosure with which to protect the property from the elements to provide conservationists with a much-needed breathing space to devise longer-term solutions.

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A £30m High School in Elgin

by JM Architects and Balfour Beatty has thrown open its doors to pupils and staff offering occupants and the wider community access to a fitness suite, auditorium and library.

The 600-pupil capacity school is faced in black render and reconstituted stone concrete blocks the high school features twin wings of teaching accommodation arranged around a central atrium.

Work will now proceed on the demolition of the old school building.

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Q U A R T E R L Y D E C D I G E S T ON YOUR BIKE

ELEVATED DESIGN

Work to deliver an Olympic standard BMX track on former playing fields in Knightswood Park has got underway as Glasgow City Council gears up for the 2018 European Championships.

Sister facility to a similar venture in Cathkin Braes Country Park, which will be extended, the track will play home to the Western Titans BMX Club and will include starting ramps of up to eight metres.

Floodlit the facility will include its own conveniences and changing facilities as well as a meeting room and car park when complete by late Spring.

Brown + Brown Architects have confirmed they intend to start work in the Spring on an innovative 159sq/m home on stilts near Maybole, Ayrshire.

Martin & Cherry Gough have commissioned a Siberian Larch-clad ‘floating’ build which makes the most of its setting in a Victorian walled garden without impinging on the grounds.

Clad in untreated Siberian larch with a frameless glass balustrade the elevated home includes its own wraparound terrace.

COMMUNITY SPIRIT

Wilson + Gunn Architects have pulled out plans for 162 homes at Edinburgh Marina, Granton, comprising a mix of flatted perimeter blocks and terraced houses with front and rear gardens.

The scheme is intended to encapsulate a permeable urban space facilitating pedestrian movements with dedicated parking offered below ground, all oriented to maximise views across the Firth of Forth.

Proposals by Holmes Miller and Robertson Construction to build a community centre within the Menzieshill area of Dundee have cleared planning.

The hub seeks to establish a civic presence in the area while upgrading existing sports facilities to accommodate twin, 4 court halls which are partially sunk into the ground to minimise impact.

EDINBURGH MARINA

BRIEFS Atkins have handed over a brand-new sports hub in Bishopbriggs on behalf of East Dunbartonshire Council, drawing together a full-size floodlit football pitch, astroturf and grass pitches alongside an athletics track and three floodlit tennis courts.

Huntershill Sports Hub is operated by East Dunbartonshire Leisure and Culture (EDLC Trust) with the aim of boosting sports participation, physical activity and more active lifestyles.

Mosaic Architecture and McTaggart Construction have commenced delivery of 132 new homes at Granton Waterfront.

Offering a range of long-term rental properties for Link Housing Association the £20m development plugs into a wider waterfront masterplan offering 100% undercroft residents parking with ground floor flats benefitting from their own front gardens and private entrances.

RIAS secretary and treasurer Neil Baxter has tendered his sudden resignation from the architect’s body, ending a decade at the helm of the organisation.

Baxter’s tenure had come under increasing scrutiny following a widespread revolt among architects at his leadership amidst calls for greater democratic accountability, a lack of impartiality and concerns over finance, governance and salaries.

BRIAR ROSE A landmark mill currently languishing on the buildings at risk register has been saved for future generations to enjoy after a local conservation group secured the necessary funding to save it.

Rosefield Mill has been taken on by Dumfries Historic Building Trust and the Architectural Heritage Fund with Purcell Architects looking to bring the building back into use.

The University of Edinburgh is to begin converting the A-listed Royal Infirmary Surgical Hospital at Quartermile into a major new research space next year after winning planning.

Edinburgh Futures Institute is being designed by Bennetts Associates together with Faithful + Gould.

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HAWKHEAD CENTRE JOHN GLENDAY

URBAN REALM DROPS BY PAGE\PARK’S CUSTOMBUILT HUB FOR THE VISUALLY IMPAIRED TO SEE IF BEAUTY REALLY DOES LIE IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER - OR WHETHER TACTILE RESPONSE AND SPATIAL QUALITIES WHICH SPEAK GREATER VOLUMES ABOUT THE NATURE OF ELEGANT DESIGN.

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HAWKHEAD CENTRE

Previous page - Hawkhead has been captured for posterity by photographer Keith Hunter Above - The sloping roof marks a gentle parabola

Paisley’s traffic choked Hawkhead Road is the setting for Page\Park Architects latest collaboration with Scottish War Blinded, a charity dedicated to transforming the lives of exservicemen, who are facing their own personal battles against sight loss long after their tours of duty have come to an end by providing the facilities they need to thrive whilst maintaining their independence.

The Hawkhead Centre occupies a former garden centre on a sizeable corner plot, providing sufficient land to build a dedicated day care centre offering a range activities, workshops, training and social opportunities for members in addition to a care home, designed by Unum Partnership on behalf of Royal Blind. Maximising the opportunities presented by co-location in terms of shared facilities, staffing and URBAN REALM WINTER 2017 URBANREALM.COM

infrastructure the dual development follows on from Page\ Park’s delivery of a sister (albeit more rural) facility at Linburn, West Lothian.

Perhaps appropriately all this activity is barely visible from the road, taking place as it does behind the low-slung confines of an arcing structure that is both screened by a healthy amount of foliage and sunk within a fortuitous pre-existing hollow which helps the building to nestle far lower than its bulk would ordinarily allow. Instead its full presence is only felt when turning off into the painstakingly manicured grounds.

Greeting Urban Realm at the front door project architect Martin Flett said: “Things the client learned from the initial project in Linburn have been fed into the project in terms of providing the best possible facilities and space for the partially

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sighted.” Space and light were key requirements of the brief and Hawkhead achieves both in spades by slicing a central walkway and social space through the centre of the plan, conjoining two great glass walls which open vistas from the entrance through to the garden beyond. A great feeling of space and light is created by seeing through from one end of the building to the other with accommodation either side.

Flett remarked: “This is a central social space with a communal dining area at the far end. You enter at the east end and then head west to the garden meaning that it is protected from the road.”

A further benefit of straight lines in the building plan is the ease and simplicity of wayfinding with every room accessible on a single level, contained within two wings either side of the

central hallway. The genesis of these opposing wings has been attributed to aircraft design but Flett favours the analogy of a birds wing inspired by the name Hawkhead. Flett explained: “You can see pretty much every room as soon as you come in so the idea was to make the spaces as clear as possible. You arrive at the east and there’s a turning area and garage off Hawkhead Road, which helps screen the noise. A garden at the other end bookends the site. There’s a real mix of mature Maple, Larch and Pine trees across the site which were a huge asset, we inherited a landscape which was already bedded in.”

Enhancing the sensations of space and light are continuous full-length high-level windows which help knit all the rooms together. Flett remarked: “We wanted to get the sense of mental mapping in all the rooms, so all the members >

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HAWKHEAD CENTRE

Left - Regimented skylights draw light deep into the interior Right - Playful geometry draws the eye through a voluminous interior

rooms are connected in one way or another to the central circulation space. The high-level glazing means you can see that the whole way through and the glazing is frameless.

Sometimes, depending on the light you can look straight through the glass almost as if it wasn’t there. Inevitably a building of this type will have a huge variety of uses so it has a sports hall, a gymnasium, kitchen, social area and workshop.

We wanted the cellular rooms to feel connected to the rest of the building. Even when you’re in one of the more cellular rooms you still have a very clear connection to the column free central area. You’re not looked away in a little compartment.”

Notable by its absence was signage, which will be added at a later date to custom walnut panels above the doors.

Instead, priority has been given to three dimensional tactile objects outside each room so the visually impaired can find their way by, for example, placing a wooden mallet at the entrance to the workshop so that as members feel their way along the guide rails they will know where they are. Going forward the centre will built its own signs in its workshop. To accentuate visual contrast different wall panels were used for the doors and frames to help pick them out and handrails are deliberately darker than the lighter walls, with braille stud embedded below to identify each room.

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Flett added: “The building plan is organized in three parts, there’s the central section, and two wings; one to the north and one to the south. Office accommodation is tucked in above the sports hall and then the building sweeps north to a single storey, moving from an urban to a domestic scale in the process. Every circulation space is slightly wider than it needs to be. As this space tapers out it also embraces the garden in a bowl like shape so you get a sense of shelter and protection from the road. It is an oasis. If you can see out to landscape it’s beneficial to your wellbeing.”

Opening out to a cavernous dining space to the west, more transparent than the eastern elevation, this volume contains a café pod which sits under the dramatic sweep of the roof. Backing onto a services core this element includes WC’s, changing rooms, a kitchen and gym with office space above. Flett said: “It contains the catering kitchen and cloak room at the far end. The timber ceiling comes down the walls at both ends of the building to give the impression of this wing-like roof, imparting the impression of enveloping you.

“As we move away from the road toward the care home we wanted to create something more domestic in scale.

It’s always a challenge with a wide variety of room types especially sports halls, because invariably you end up with >

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HAWKHEAD CENTRE

multifunctional spaces. That’s where the roof comes in by helping us to mediate between those different types of spaces.” The sports hall itself cannot be subdivided but it is still a flexible space, containing a foldable archery net and evidence of recent activities ranging from bowls to curling and music recitals. More over full height windows at one end may be retracted in the summer to create a veranda, sheltered from the elements by way of the overhanging roof.”

Of paramount importance were the garden spaces beyond and while the team were fortunate in inheriting a mature green space extensive works were still required; notably inclusion of a greenhouse and pergola. Flett observed: “The members do a lot of gardening at the Linburn Centre, it’s been designed as a sensory garden so there’s a great variety of plants and herbs and raised planting beds. So that member can garden without getting on their hands and knees.”

As visually impaired people rely on a heightened sense URBAN REALM WINTER 2017 URBANREALM.COM

of sound acoustics were an important consideration with Page\Park going out of their way to ensure that the finished product didn’t just look good but sounded great too. Flett said: “We worked hard to ensure that the acoustics were good so all the timber ceilings were given an acoustic fabric for absorption, you’re not getting a lot of reverberation. There’s a lot of acoustic wall paneling as well and the floor finishes were chosen to be soft with a cork finish in the central area. A key thing for us and the client was to ensure the centre had a noninstitutional feel. It’s a building which has wellbeing at its core but it was important that it felt right, displaying the quality of a public building but also being somewhere you’d want to spend time.”

To further this goal the architects consciously sought to limit the material palette as far as possible, specifically the use of synthetic materials. Finished predominantly in timber a standalone kitchen and services unit stands proud, finished in

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Left - The centre issplit between communal and more intimate spaces Right - A cavernous multi-use games hall enjoys garden views

MDF paneling, almost as a piece of furniture within the much larger volume. This simplicity belies a rather complicated cranked plan orthogonal to the floorplate which intersects in the central space. The angle of intersection inspired the triangular roof lights which highlight a meshing together of the northern and southern building wings.

Externally a concave entrance was conceived partly to mirror the busy roundabout opposite but also to offer a sense of enclosure, framing drop-off area at the front and gardens to the rear. Finished in larch the facades will tone down in time to a duller colour with piers of tapered columns extending the full length of the facility to give the building some depth as well as options to play with the roof edge detail which is tapered and includes a big box gutter. Flett said: “As that tapered space widens toward the end the rooflights get larger as well.

They also act as louvres so it’s largely a naturally ventilated building. The idea behind the steel planters filled with gravel is

as a tap rail so people walking along it have a straight edge to walk along. The deep reveals also help to protect openings so you’re not opening doors directly onto the path.”

Completed in a mere 18 months the singular vision is of deceptive simplicity, disguising the complex geometrical gymnastics involved in the design. In marrying the opposing needs of domestic and communal facilities under one roof Page/Park has opened a doorway through which veterans may step out from the dark and into the light.

Landscape Architect: Ian White Associates Client: Scottish War Blinded and the Royal Blind Contractor: CCG Photographer: Keith Hunter

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OUR FINAL ACT OF 2017 WAS TO PULL TOGETHER AN UPDATED SUMMARY OF THE BEST PRACTICES AT WORK. OVER THE FOLLOWING PAGES WE DETAIL THE PRACTICES WHICH HAVE DONE MOST TO RESHAPE OUR BUILT ENVIRONMENT, OVERHAULING OUR EDUCATION SYSTEM WITH A WAVE OF FINE NEW SCHOOLS, INNOVATIVE HOUSING AND EVEN A LONG FORGOTTEN MUSIC SCHOOL WHICH SINGS ONCE MORE. IT HAS BEEN TWELVE MONTHS IN THE MAKING BUT IS WELL WORTH THE WAIT.

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James Gillespie’s Campus has been arranged by JM Architects to better relate to the A listed Bruntsfield House

To better manage the sheer scale of work, practices and individual effort we’ve approached the formidable task of surveying the industry by inviting key players to give us their thoughts on a rollercoaster year, highlighting the work which has most influenced their thinking over recent months It’s a weighty list having grown this year to become our biggest ever but is testament to the quiet endeavours of the thousands of achitects who shape the world around us. 2017 has been a year of flux but it has already left an indelible mark on all those who lived through it, as attention inevitably turns to a New Year and the many challenges which still lie before us.

Before you sits the full year in review with a detailed methodology at the end. Each spot on this list has been hard fought and we extend our thanks to all those within it. Together they make Scotland a better place to live.

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jmarchitects Ltd

No. of chartered architects: 48 Staff Total: 66 Awards: RIAS Award, SDA Award, RIAS Award Ian Alexander Design Director What would you like to see change in 2018?

I think the big challenge for Scotland, Europe and the world is to achieve some form of political stability. Easier said than done. The design and construction industries are perpetually aware that it just takes a few economic and political judders, never mind the normal challenges of running a practice, to create a sense of insecurity. Clearly a resolution and a positive outcome for our future relationship with Europe is important from a cultural, educational, economic and human perspective.

As architects we continually strive to achieve best practice >

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The Halo by Keppie seeks to plug Kilmarnock into the Northern Powerhouse through improved infrastructure

and create spaces and places that delight and inspire. To do so we need to be unreservedly part of a bigger European and World dialogue. Arguably some of the best thinking in education and design has come from Europe and we may not be exposed to that in a more hermetic and isolated UK. As we move through the year I would ultimately like us all to realise that small things; local things matter just as much as the bigger global issues, and that the accumulation of small decisions and actions can create a more ambitious and profound whole. For architecture this means focusing on producing great work that impacts positively on its end users and community, all-the-while contributing to, and enhancing the on-going and evolving design discourse in Scotland.

between ourselves and the outside world. The question for me is, are we making the right choices? Are we designing and creating the right architecture? Teaching urban design at the Mackintosh School of Architecture has stimulated my own architectural ideas about city living, particularly in regards to bringing families back into our city centres and creating rich, sustainable environments with fresh air and a density that produces effective and well distributed services for all. We can make the city a real alternative to the suburbs, but to do so we need to broaden the appeal of urban living through intelligent, sustainable and enterprising design approaches.

This is a smaller scale, localised approach with the potential to make a wider global impact.

What is the best work you have seen produced by another practice this year?

For me, the Ruin Studio by Lily Jencks takes the top spot.

I thought this was not only an interesting way of working with the shell of an existing structure but also a powerful reflection on the lifespan of both the built fabric and humanity. Clad in a black EPDM skin, the formal mass sits behind the existing ruined stone structure allowing both to independently express themselves as part of a greater whole.

A single door without a lobby, black on the outside and white on the inside, creates a threshold that feels like moving through a veil. The white of the interior creates a dreamlike relationship between the house and the landscape. I came away very enthused and inspired.

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Can architecture change the world?

Architecture does change the world. It has being doing so since humans made shelters and created a physical interface

BDP

No. of chartered architects: 47 Staff Total: 72 03

Keppie Design

No. of chartered architects: 44 Staff Total: 106 Peter Moran Managing Director Are you optimistic about the future?

I would say we are cautiously optimistic about the year ahead.

We have a healthy workload and some exciting projects to look forward to but there is still a lot of uncertainty in the construction industry in Scotland. The potential impact of Brexit and the lack of clarity in the public sector pipeline are completely out of our control and could have significant negative impact on the future. To address this, we have restructured our business with a particular attention on reducing overheads. >

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What is the best work you’ve seen by another practice this year?

I am always impressed by the consistently high standard and quality of work produced by Page\Park and their recently completed Hawkhead Centre in Paisley for the Scottish War Blinded is another fine example of a simple, yet beautifully detailed building. I have also been very impressed by the quality of work that has been produced by Collective Architecture across a wide range of sectors especially their community projects at Barmulloch and Cumbernauld. I wonder if it’s just coincidence that both practices are employee owned!

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Reiach and Hall Architects

No. of chartered architects: 25 Staff Total: 40 Awards: RIAS Award, SDA Grand Prix, SDA Award, SDA Award 05

Michael Laird Architects

No. of chartered architects: 24 Staff Total: 49 Awards: RIAS Award, SDA Award, SDA commendation, RIAS Award 06

CDA

© JIM STEPHENSON

How will you achieve further growth?

Our objective is to be a financially secure, profitable, design-led business of talented, committed people working in an inspiring, creative environment, so growth simply for the sake of turnover, or to be the biggest, is not something that interests us. Our practice strategy will continue to focus on employing talented people and to secure work across all sectors. Our recent merger with macmon architects is a great example of this. We have strengthened our team with some excellent new people who bring experience and projects in the residential, mental health and elderly care, all sectors where Keppie aim to win more work.

St Cecilia’s Hall has been given a new ‘mouthpiece’ by Page\Park

We are a living experiment. As a generation of architects in our early 30’s, we are being given the baton handed down to us by our mentors. We benefit from their experience but now face incredible challenges, unimaginable in the past. The ecological impact of the 20th century is the price we are paying, to be tackled with new skills, technologies and sensitivities. We will need to do so with imagination, creativity and resilience. These are qualities which we do have that need to be overlaid with a polemical advocacy, to change the direction of the earth ship from that of exploitation to that of care. We are up for it.

No. of chartered architects: 38 Staff Total: 74 07

NORR Consultants Limited

No. of chartered architects: 31 Staff Total: 68 Total value of work: £5,120,000 Efficiency income/head: £75,294 08

Hoskins Architects

No. of chartered architects: 18 Staff Total: 28 Awards: RIAS Award, RIAS Award, SDA commendation, SDA Award 09

Page \ Park Architects

No. of chartered architects: 25 Staff Total: 41 Awards: SDA Award Eilidh Henderson Architect/Depute of Innovation Are you optimistic for the future?

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What would you like to see change in 2018 and can architecture change the world?

As a practice we blend methodology (building) with thinking, dreaming and talking. There are two strands. Without discipline we wouldn’t get to build. Without thinking we wouldn’t be able to build well.

So what do we think? The curator at St.Cecilia’s Hall tells a lovely story of why musical instruments were decorated, in the case of one particular instrument at St.Cecilia’s the peaches were for taste, the flowers for scent, the parrots for sight, touch was the ripple of the fingers across the keyboard and sound the cascade of notes around the room.

A beautiful idea. What that says is that architecture is all about the senses. The problem we have today is, in a digitally enhanced world, we’re losing touch with our senses. In a way, architecture we see might be awesome but will it be memorable, like the smell of the first burst bubblegum bubble you blow, or the touch of wind on your face walking on the beach?

Š JAMES MERRELL

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Above - The Gleneagles Hotel has been refurbished and extended by 3DReid

Below - The same practice converted this Princes Street townhouse for office use

A curious bi-product of the digital emancipation is a vastly increased network of interaction. This in itself is an opportunity if we can immerse these conversations in an enhanced, tangible reality experienced by the senses. Not a simple task, but an imperative if we are to succeed in this living experiment.

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Oberlanders

No. of chartered architects: 13 Staff Total: 24 Awards: RIAS Award, SDA Award 11

Holmes Miller Limited

No. of chartered architects: 34 Staff Total: 52 12

3DReid Archiects

No. of chartered architects: 28 Staff Total: 52 David Llewellyn Director Are you optimistic for the future?

We have secured some really exciting projects with interesting clients for 2018 into 2019, so yes we are. Although the political climate in the UK continues to cause uncertainty in the market, we are seeing increased opportunities in the form of investment from overseas funders into the UK, where the Yen, Rupee and Dollar are going much further. We have a fantastic spread of high profile Hotel, Leisure, Office, Residential and Retail projects, the majority of which have real emphasis on high calibre architecture and design.

What distinguishes your practice from others?

We understand what we are good at and what we are trying to achieve. We are committed to creating practical and commercial architectural design solutions in all of the sectors we are involved in. We have a team of talented, pragmatic, dedicated and passionate architects, technicians and designers at 3DReid, the majority of whom have been with us for many years. We work in partnership with our clients in order to truly understand their needs and we combine this, through design workshops, with our sector expertise and in collaboration with other specialist consultants, to produce design that properly fulfils the clients brief. >

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© ASHLEY COOMBES EPIC SCOTLAND LTD

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The Clydeside Distillery has been carved out of a B-listed Pumphouse by Hypostyle

How will you achieve further growth?

We plan to maintain our market share in our primary sectors mentioned above and build on our position in both the commercial and residential markets. With the UK as a whole facing a huge housing shortfall there is plenty of room to grow and to use our existing residential and PRS experience to develop this sector further – particularly in Scotland. That being said, our focus is on quality and not quantity, so we plan to continue to work closely with our clients, consultants, contractors and developers, designing and delivering high profile, great quality, incredibly enjoyable and award winning architecture.

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Richard Murphy Architects

No. of chartered architects: 11 Staff Total: 13 Awards: Doolan, RIAS Award 14

Moxon Architects Ltd

No. of chartered architects: 4 Staff Total: 5 Awards: SDA Chairman, SDA commendation, SDA commendation, RIAS Award 15

Stallan-Brand

No. of chartered architects: 19 Staff Total: 26 Awards: SDA Award 16

Hypostyle Architects

No. of chartered architects: 26 Staff Total: 42

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Gerry Henaughen Founding Director What would you like to see change in 2018?

Greater respect for Architects and the Architectural profession.

Appreciation of Architect’s roles and benefits in society in general and by clients in particular.

An increase in fee levels. Current levels are unsustainable in the long term and the profession has failed to address this issue.

The tendering and procurement processes are in need of reform. The amount of time and abortive work spent by all technical consultants, not just architects, in tendering for projects is a big issue.

What is the best work you’ve seen produced by another practice this year?

The Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa, in Capetown by Heatherwick Studio.

Louvre Abu Dhabi, on Saadiyat Island, Abu Dhabi by Jean Nouvel.

Can architecture change the world?

Architecture can influence the world and does. BUT all too seldom as it is becoming increasingly marginalised by the erosion of the architects role in society and the economic predication for cookie cutter architecture and short term solutions. Architecture influences energy, environment, living conditions and culture and a long term and sustainable view should prevail but in general doesn’t.

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Left - EMA have built their own Urban Eden at Lochend, Edinburgh Right - 205 homes have been delivered on behalf of Place for People

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LDN Architects LLP

No. of chartered architects: 25 Staff Total: 38 Awards: SDA Award 18

ICA

No. of chartered architects: 16 Staff Total: 40 19

MAST Architects

No. of chartered architects: 22 Staff Total: 57 20

Threesixty Architecture

No. of chartered architects: 21 Staff Total: 46 21

EMA Architecture + Design

No. of chartered architects: 11 Staff Total: 23

our focus on constantly improving the quality of our output and our client care. Further growth will come if we continue to concentrate on these aspects of the business and if we ensure that our management and wider team are aligned with our core values.

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Anderson Bell Christie

No. of chartered architects: 19 Staff Total: 35 23

7N Architects

No. of chartered architects: 13 Staff Total: 16 24

Simpson Simpson & Brown

No. of chartered architects: 20 Staff Total: 39 25

HLM Architects

No. of chartered architects: 11 Staff Total: 26 Ewan McIntyre Managing Director

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Collective Architecture

No. of chartered architects: 18 Staff Total: 42 What is the best work you’ve seen produced by another practice this year?

Loved Oberlander’s Holyrood student housing.

Can architecture change the world?

Only people can change the world.

How will you achieve further growth?

Growth is a measure of success rather than a goal in itself. We’ve grown consistently over the past 20 years, but only as a result of

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Susan Stephen Architects

No. of chartered architects: 10 Staff Total: 17 28

Somner Macdonald Architects

No. of chartered architects: 4 Staff Total: 5 Awards: RIAS Award 29

Sheppard Robson

No. of chartered architects: 23 Staff Total: 33

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AHR Architects Ltd

No. of chartered architects: 7 Staff Total: 13 31

CRGP Ltd

No. of chartered architects: 7 Staff Total: 42 32

Mosaic Architecture

No. of chartered architects: 13 Staff Total: 20 Neil Haining Director What distinguishes your practice from others?

Mosaic is an architecture and interior design studio committed to providing design solutions that create uplifting spaces for people to work, live and play. Our buildings respond to the local community, context and environment, creating architecture which successfully balances contemporary design and imagination with sustainability and commercial awareness. What distinguishes our practice is our commitment to provide the highest possible standards of professional service which is both creative and technically efficient, advocating an open, intelligent and collaborative design process.

What has been your best work of the past year?

The new £85 million University of the West of Scotland (UWS) 38-acre campus at Hamilton International Technology Park has marked a significant progression in the development of our practice.

A partnership between UWS, South Lanarkshire Council and developers HFD Group, the new Lanarkshire campus will offer a range of specialist labs, teaching facilities and social spaces, as well as homes, sports facilities and a student union. The focal point of a wider regeneration masterplan, the scheme will also enhance collaboration with existing businesses within the enterprise zone with residential blocks stepped along the site’s contours. The layout of the buildings harness topography to create a series of interlinked courtyards, each with their own distinct character.

The campus will be one of the UK’s ‘greenest’ educational environments, with carbon neutral buildings incorporating sustainability features, such as 100% renewable power, generated through a windfarm and rainwater harvesting.

Would you recommend a career in architecture?

Yes, I would. Architecture is a very rewarding profession which can create opportunities for individuals all over the world. It is a profession which requires all your skills to succeed, constantly pushes you to be creative on new projects, and requires a very good understanding of, and working relationship with, other people. The rewards are all the more satisfying when you can see all your efforts being URBAN REALM WINTER 2017 URBANREALM.COM

Mosaic’s UWS EcoCampus will offer 240,000sq/ft of teaching and office space

appreciated and, ultimately, deliver well-designed projects.

The more committed you are to the profession the more you will get out of it.

What can Scottish architects offer to the world?

Over the last few years we have been very fortunate to have been able to work on projects in the UK and the Middle East and my experience is that Scottish architects are very highly regarded around the world. Although our design creativity and technical ability are much sought-after qualities, it is our positive work ethic which sets us apart from other countries. I think we tend to undervalue our skills abroad and we should be out there promoting our profession.

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ISA

No. of chartered architects: 14 Staff Total: 25 Total value of work: £1,435,000 Efficiency income/head: £ 57,400 34

Scott Brownrigg

No. of chartered architects: 10 Staff Total: 12 35

Smith Scott Mullan Associates

No. of chartered architects: 13 Staff Total: 25 36

John McAslan + Partners

No. of chartered architects: 6 Staff Total: 8 37

Fletcher Joseph Associates

No. of chartered architects: 6 Staff Total: 17

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Hurd Rolland are behind Edinburgh’s latest speculative office development, Capital Square

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GLM

No. of chartered architects: 4 Staff Total: 18 39

Aitken Turnbull Architects

No. of chartered architects: 6 Staff Total: 23 40

Morgan McDonnell

No. of chartered architects: 9 Staff Total: 17 41

Ann Nisbet

What would you like to see change in 2018?

I would like to see the process for public sector procurement greatly simplified to allow less wastage of time and effort

by Practices in bidding for work. Removing unnecessary restrictions to bidding would re-generate enthusiasm in the whole process and avoid the exclusion which many smaller practices face if they have no recent experience in a particular field. As Architects, we can apply our training and expertise across many different areas and should be allowed to do so.

No. of chartered architects: 1 Staff Total: 3 42

Gauldie Wright & Partners Architects Ltd

No. of chartered architects: 4 Staff Total: 6 43

Sutherland Hussey Harris

No. of chartered architects: 3 Staff Total: 7 44

Groves-Raines Architects Ltd. and GRAS

No. of chartered architects: 13 Staff Total: 27 45

Hurd Rolland Partnership

No. of chartered architects: 12 Staff Total: 19 Mike Rolland Managing Partner

Can architecture change the world?

Sometimes the simplest of architectural projects can have the most enormous impact on the lives of those nearby and I am encouraged when I see good examples of this.

However, I believe that the profession needs to assert itself to regain its rightful place in the construction process and to allow architects to lead this process – they are the only construction professional who are properly able to do this.

How will you achieve further growth?

Lately, we have been working predominantly in the private sector in Scotland and hope to achieve growth by taking a very deliberate step towards expanding into the public sector again. In addition, a recent major investment in new IT, in particular with a further investment in BIM technology, will allow our procedures to become more efficient in the long-term whilst also offering a better service to our clients.

Finally, we will continue to operate an office where all staff

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are valued, well-qualified, highly motivated and dedicated to providing the best results for all of our clients.

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Axis Mason

No. of chartered architects: 2 Staff Total: 6 47

Patience and Highmore

No. of chartered architects: 5 Staff Total: 9 48

Elder + Cannon Architects

No. of chartered architects: 9 Staff Total: 15 49

Lewis & Hickey Ltd

No. of chartered architects: 6 Staff Total: 20 50

Bennetts Associates

No. of chartered architects: 9 Staff Total: 14 51

Austin-Smith:Lord LLP

No. of chartered architects: 8 Staff Total: 16 52

LMA Architects

ARPL’s Midsteeple Quarter will breathe new life into Dumfries

No. of chartered architects: 3 Staff Total: 14 53

Arc Architects Ltd

No. of chartered architects: 3 Staff Total: 4 54

Rural Design

No. of chartered architects: 8 Staff Total: 13 55

IDP Architects

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cameronwebsterarchitects

No. of chartered architects: 4 Staff Total: 5 Awards: RIAS Award 63

ARPL Architects

No. of chartered architects: 5 Staff Total: 12 Total value of work: £659,500 Efficiency income/head: £54,958

No. of chartered architects: 5 Staff Total: 9 56

Roxburgh McEwan Architects

Gordon Fleming, Director

No. of chartered architects: 6 Staff Total: 7 57

Taylor Architecture Practice (TAP) Ltd

No. of chartered architects: 2 Staff Total: 4 Awards: RIAS Award 58

Bell Ingram Design

No. of chartered architects: 4 Staff Total: 8 59

Stewart Associates

No. of chartered architects: 4 Staff Total: 7 60

Helen Lucas Architects

No. of chartered architects: 11 Staff Total: 13 61

George Buchanan Architects

No. of chartered architects: 4 Staff Total: 5 Total value of work: £300,000 Efficiency income/head: £60,000 URBAN REALM WINTER 2017 URBANREALM.COM

What would you like to see change in 2018?

I am greatly concerned that the development of architectural practices in Scotland is stagnating. It is very difficult for any new practice to break into the work on larger commissions. While there are some interesting practices around they seem to be limited to small scale work around single clients who happen to believe in them.

All the major commissions still seem to go through the long established practices some good and many very mundane.

The procurement processes for public sector work favours this “more of the same” approach and many private selection procedures seem to be beginning to mirror this as if it is an exemplar.

What is the best work you’ve seen produced by another practice this year?

I have always been a great admirer of O’Donnell and Tuomey with their crafted and sculptured spaces woven into the urban

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LBA’s Gayfield Square housing, Edinburgh, sits harmoniously with Georgian townhouses

fabric. A project which I have been waiting to see and which has not disappointed is the new Central European University building in Budapest. The integration of existing buildings and the creation of new connections through the urban blocks creates an intense experience of specific spaces structured with stone, timber concrete and steel. This is a great continuation and development of their urban architectural language.

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No. of chartered architects: 5 Staff Total: 10 67

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John Gilbert Architects

No. of chartered architects: 6 Staff Total: 10 65

LeeBoyd Architects

No. of chartered architects: 6 Staff Total: 9

McLean Architects

No. of chartered architects: 5 Staff Total: 10 68

What distinguishes your practice from others?

We are a provincial based practice who manage to work in a wide geographic and architectural field. Although we have a strong regional presence our work stretches from Orkney to Dublin – our biggest projects are in Ireland.

We work very hard with our clients to give them the best project we can manage for what are often very limited budgets and this has resulted in us gaining commissions for schools, theatres, art galleries, community centres, churches, housing and private houses – all the dream jobs you hope for as an architect.

A strong studio, currently of 11 people, working outside the heat of the central belt means each of these projects becomes very special to us and we hopefully deliver a service which reflects that.

Annie Kenyon Architects Ltd & Annie Kenyon Developments Ltd

Young & Gault Architects

No. of chartered architects: 6 Staff Total: 7 69

A449 LTD

No. of chartered architects: 2 Staff Total: 4 Awards: RIAS Award 70

ZM Architecture

No. of chartered architects: 4 Staff Total: 9 71

Denholm Partnership LLP

No. of chartered architects: 3 Staff Total: 11 72

LBA

No. of chartered architects: 2 Staff Total: 12 Total value of work: £700,000 Efficiency income/head: £58,333 Lynsay Bell Manson, MD What would you like to see change in 2018?

I would like to see the Building Control department/process

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privatised in Scotland. The lack of resource within local authorities has really held our business back from further potential growth in 2017 due to delays in obtaining Building Warrants. We are currently experiencing such a high level of investment in Scotland, we need to be able to react to this. LBA are section 6 certified and I would be very keen for the practice to obtain the qualifications that would allow us to certify further sections of the regulations.

Are you optimistic for the future?

Very optimistic. We have had an exciting 5 years in business, the practice doubled in size this year from 6 to 12 employees and we have a very exciting future ahead of us. To achieve our next 5-10 year growth plan, we are looking to recruit very specific individuals who will bring new skillsets to our team. We have developed a strong reputation in the residential sector and are now looking to expand into much larger developments. Investing in the right people for the right positions and also at the right time is key to our ongoing growth and the future of the practice.

What distinguishes you from other practices?

We have built a strong culture which has been developed and driven by the entire team and not just director level staff.

This has created a very positive working environment, where everyone has similar values and goals and we are all working together to achieve the same outcomes. This has also helped us employ the right people for the team, who clearly also live by LBA’s values. The positive outcomes are stronger relationships, high standards, a positive fun work environment, efficiency and most importantly we all love what we do.

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Brown + Brown Architect

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No. of chartered architects: 3 Staff Total: 4 81

BMJ Architects

82

Ingram Architecture & Design Limited

No. of chartered architects: 4 Staff Total: 6 Total value of work: £350,000 Efficiency income/head: £58,333 76

Smith Findlay Architects

No. of chartered architects: 4 Staff Total: 6 77

The Voigt Partnership

No. of chartered architects: 2 Staff Total: 9 78

WT Architecture

No. of chartered architects: 7 Staff Total: 9 79

DTA

No. of chartered architects: 2 Staff Total: 8 URBAN REALM WINTER 2017 URBANREALM.COM

Kearney Donald Partnership

No. of chartered architects: 2 Staff Total: 6 83

DO Architecture

No. of chartered architects: 2 Staff Total: 5

No. of chartered architects: 7 Staff Total: 21 75

Dualchas Architects

No. of chartered architects: 6 Staff Total: 18

No. of chartered architects: 1 Staff Total: 4 74

David Blaikie Architects

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INCH Architecture

No. of chartered architects: 2 Staff Total: 5 85

Fergus Purdie Architects

No. of chartered architects: 2 Staff Total: 5 86

Konishi Gaffney Architects

No. of chartered architects: 2 Staff Total: 4 87

Roots Architecture Limited

No. of chartered architects: 1 Staff Total: 6 88

Dallman Johnstone

No. of chartered architects: 2 Staff Total: 2 89

SHS BURRIDGE ARCHITECTS

No. of chartered architects: 2 Staff Total: 2

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Left - A10’s proposed Well End Activity Centre in Borehamwood doubles as an activity and workshop space Right - This space below Edinburgh’s Waverley Arches has beentransformed by A10 into a football fashion destination

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Calum Duncan Architects

No. of chartered architects: 2 Staff Total: 2 Awards: SDA Award 91

Honeyman Jack & Robertson

No. of chartered architects: 4 Staff Total: 7 92

Assist Design Ltd

No. of chartered architects: 6 Staff Total: 12 Total value of work: £464,000 Efficiency income/head: £38,666 93

Jon Frullani Architect Ltd

No. of chartered architects: 1 Staff Total: 11 94

A10 Architects Ltd

No. of chartered architects: 2 Staff Total: 6 Darren Glennie Managing Director Are you optimistic for the future?

As a young practice we are extremely expectant for the year ahead and beyond, as we are in a strong position to address cultural and social change. We have seen a number of changes in how we operate in the last 12 months through diversification in services we can provide and through investment in new software, so that we can always remain true to our core values of; Quality, Integrity, Reliability and Flexibility. The latter being

flexibility which all practices must be to remain competitive in this changing political climate. Despite these political uncertainties we have noted a significant upturn in new projects and enquiries in the last quarter of 2017 compared to the earlier quarters of the year with us entering 2018 strongly.

What distinguishes your practice from others?

Coming from a range of various practices where we have had countless opportunities to work on many projects and gained great experience from many clients in different sectors. This has meant we have been able to continue working with previous clients and take on work in many different sectors which can sometimes be an obstacle for many smaller practices. These experiences have also reflected in our eclectic ideas and design solutions which is also conveyed in our design approach to countless projects where each project is design driven with a holistic solution from exterior to interior. This has allowed the team to develop the practice into a vibrant creative working environment which is reflected by us moving into bigger offices and growing in size in the last year.

How will you achieve further growth?

Further growth can be a challenge for many but we maintain a strong base of on-going clients, through which we have gained many new clients over recent years and also with having many projects in different sectors it is easier to see growth in one area and not in another at certain times which means can push forward in the areas were growth is at that specific time. We are continually investigating new opportunities but we have found recently that growth from diversification of services through >

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bringing some consultations, or service, roles which may have used external providers for in-house has provided cross pollination where an enquiry from one service will generate a design project. This in-house approach has also ensured a far more efficient approach to projects providing best value to clients.

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block 9 Architects

No. of chartered architects: 5 Staff Total: 8 96

JAMstudio Ltd

No. of chartered architects: 1 Staff Total: 4 Marie-Louise Dunk Chartered Architect/Director What would you like to see change in 2018?

I have a long list of items – most of them regarding the taxation situation for properties! Firstly I think the Land and Buildings Transaction Tax needs to be looked at – it has completely killed off residential property sales in the North East, which is not good news for anyone and as a result isn’t raising anything like the revenues predicted; secondly I’d like to see our government actually do something really helpful for existing home owners who don’t want to move, but do want to improve – remove the current 20% rate of VAT on home improvements, which would help owners of older properties refurbish them and make them more energy efficient in the process; and third on the list is to revise down the business rates on shop fronts on our high streets, and at the same time revise them up for out of town shopping centres.

Can architecture change the world?

Yes, as long as there is the political will to do so and some notion of efficacy can be brought into our planning system.

We like to talk about how innovative we are as a nation, and yet I can’t really see any innovation in how our planning system works and how construction is funded – what would be great would be to have some really bold policies that encourage low cost home building on a decent scale – there should be a combination of tax incentives to free up useful land in good places and different financial models explored to facilitate groups of individuals to come together and be able to build communities for themselves – as is already done in other countries such as the Netherlands.

This well-insulated family home was built to a tight budget by JAMstudio

and more in projects and are starting to see the results of this for sure! Being small again means we can get back to first principles – offering our clients a very tailored, personal and completely bespoke service, and being more selective about the type of projects we take on as a practice. For me personally its meaning I am more hands on with projects rather than drowning in the day to day practice management, which is always a headache as you grow. Cutting overheads has also had the interesting side effect of making us more profitable, so we are feeling more financially secure, which in turn is allowing us to invest in new software and extra training. I think 2018 could well be our most interesting year yet!

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No. of chartered architects: 0 Staff Total: 6 98

Are you optimistic for the future?

Yes, hugely. The last couple of years have been very challenging in the North East thanks to the oil downturn; we are now much smaller than we have been, which has allowed us to rethink our direction and invest in new technologies. We are implementing the use of BIM more URBAN REALM WINTER 2017 URBANREALM.COM

icecream architecture

Robin Baker Architects

No. of chartered architects: 1 Staff Total: 3 99

Fife Architects

No. of chartered architects: 1 Staff Total: 2

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Above & Below - Abbotsford House by Ink Design saw rear and side extensions added to a 19th century Giffnock home

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Inkdesign Architecture

No. of chartered architects: 3 Staff Total: 7 Maurice Hickey Managing Director

Can architecture change the world?

No, people change the world. Architecture has a significant influence on shaping the environment that people live within, but without people there is no architecture.

What distinguishes your practice from others?

Our ability to build open and honest relationships with our clients. While our projects and our team have grown in size over the last few years, the practice still offers our clients a personal relationship.

How will you achieve further growth?

We have been fortunate to sustain steady growth year on year. Whilst the majority of our work comes to us via recommendation, even the larger projects, we’re implementing a targeted marketing strategy that will open up the practice to potential clients currently unaware of what we can offer.

Methodology 1. Efficiency points weight: <40 000 GBP fees income/head

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<60 000 GBP fees income/head

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<70 000 GBP fees income/head

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2. Staff points: Staff points have weight 1:1 3. Qualified architects points Qualified architects points have weight 1:2 4 Awards points including the following schemes: RIAS awards RBA awards SDA awards Awards weight 1:10

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YOU’VE SEEN WHAT OUR BEST PRACTICES CAN DO, HERE YOU CAN REACH OUT AND CONTACT THEM DIRECTLY. WHETHER YOU SEEK HELP TO REALISE YOUR OWN GOALS OR JUST FANCY A CHAT, A WEALTH OF EXPERTISE LIES BEFORE YOU.

Anderson Bell Christie 3DReid Architects

382 Great Western Road, Glasgow, G4 9HT

36 North Castle Street, Edinburgh EH2 3BN Tel: 0345 271 6300 Email: edinburgh@3DReid.com

Tel: 0141 339 1515 Email: gen@andersonbellchristie.com Web: www.andersonbellchristie.com Twitter: @AndersonBellChr Principal Contact(s): Adam Bell (director), Stephen Lamb (director)

45 West Nile Street, Glasgow G1 2PT Tel: 0345 271 6350 Email: glasgow@3DReid.com Web: www.3DReid.com Twitter: @3_D_Reid Number of Architects (in Scotland): 28 Number of Staff (in Scotland): 52 Practice Statement: 3DReid is a creative architecture and interior design studio specialising in the design and delivery of complex new build and refurbishment projects. Our cross sector experience includes Airports, Culture & Community, Education, Hotels, Industrial, Leisure, Offices, Residential, Retail and Urban Regeneration. Our team of over 130 people is located across five studios, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Manchester, Birmingham and London. By sharing our knowledge across disciplines we provide a robust and versatile service bringing national and international expertise on a local scale, enabling us to deliver innovative design solutions in any sector we work in. We are great collaborators, internally within our studios and externally with clients, consultants, contractors and developers. We enjoy working with ambitious partners and engaging with stakeholders and the wider community.

Services Provided: Architectural Design, Interior Design, Masterplanning and Urban Regeneration

A10 Architects Ltd 12 Moss Side Road, Glasgow, G41 3TL Email: info@a10architects.com Web: www.a10architects.com Twitter: @A10architects Tel: 0141 649 2296 Practice Statement: A10 Architects Ltd were formed in April 2010 as a young vibrant and flexible architectural practice which operates a compact team providing a comprehensive architectural and project management solution for clients.

The practice from its outset has fulfilled what has always been regarded as the Architect’s principal role – to lead the Design Team in all respects and to ensure that a project is handed back to the client successfully completed, on time and within budget.

We provide a full range of architectural services from inception to completion, including feasibility studies and master planning.

Services Provided: Architectural Design, Interior Design, Project Management, Principal Designer, 3D visualisation, 3rd Party Sector Funding Advise, 3rd Party Sector Grant Applications URBAN REALM WINTER 2017 URBANREALM.COM

No. of Architects: 19 No. of Staff: 37 Practice Statement: Anderson Bell Christie has consistently delivered creative design solutions throughout Scotland and the north of England for over 25 years. We offer a full architectural service on a diverse range of projects, and our professional, enthusiastic approach has led to satisfied clients and award-winning buildings.

Annie Kenyon Architects Ltd South Lediken Studios, Insch, Aberdeenshire, AB52 6SH Email: info@akenyonarchitects.com Web: www.akenyonarchitects.com Number of Architects: 5 Number of staff: 10 Practice Statement: AKA is based in rural Aberdeenshire and carries out design-led restoration, conversion, extension and new-build projects with an emphasis on sustainability. The practice endeavours to use appropriate materials and promotes high quality energy efficient solutions in both restoration and new-build projects. Existing redundant rural architecture can be put to reuse for residential or commercial purposes through sensitive conversion based on a sound understanding of traditional materials and techniques and the potential of new interventions. We endeavour to create well considered beautiful buildings that are appropriate for their setting.

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ARPL Architects

EMA Architecture + Design Limited

George Buchanan Architects Ltd

11 Wellington Square, Ayr, KA7 1EN

42 Charlotte Square, Edinburgh, EH2 4HQ

Tel: 01292 289777 Fax: 01292 288896 Web: www.arpl.co.uk Email: gfleming@arpl.co.uk

Tel: 0131 247 1450 Email: info@ema-architects.co.uk Web: www.ema-architects.co.uk Twitter: @EMA_Architects Principal Contact(s): Ewan McIntyre, Managing Director

Maryhill Burgh Halls, 10-24 Gairbraid Avenue, Glasgow, G20 8YE

Number of Architects: 5 Number of Staff: 11 Practice Statement: The ARPL philosophy is to work closely with each client to produce buildings which are sympathetic to both the immediate and broader environment. We are committed to helping communities in Scotland improve and enhance a sustainable future.

Services Provided: Architectural design, community based design, specialist conservation and low energy sustainable work, masterplanning. Principal Designer Services

Tel: 0141 946 2433 Email: studio@georgebuchananarchitects.com Web: www.georgebuchananarchitects.com Twitter: @GBArchitectsLtd Principal Contact: George Buchanan, Director

No. of Architects: 11 No. of Staff: 23

No. of Architects: 4 No. of Staff: 5

Practice Statement: EMA Architecture + Design is an architectural practice based in Edinburgh specialising in mixed use masterplanning, neighbourhood design and architecture.Our core values are on delivering designs that will reinforce the urban fabric of the surrounding area. We aim to create places with character and identity, with high quality positive street frontages and maximum permeability to encourage social interaction.

We pride ourselves on delivering practical and commercial solutions whilst making a positive contribution to Scotland’s architecture and urban design. The team at EMA are dependable and enjoy delivering solutions that enhance the value of our clients’ assets. At EMA we are ambitious to become one of the best architectural practices in Scotland.

Practice Statement: “George Buchanan Architects is a dynamic, design-driven architectural practice, based in Glasgow. We have extensive experience in various sectors, including Residential, Affordable Housing, Commercial, Education and Domestic.

Passionate about design, we love producing practical solutions, exceeding expectations and maximising value. A thorough, professional service, delivered by a creative, friendly team.”

elder & cannon architects

Hurd Rolland

Email: mail@elder-cannon.co.uk Web: www.elder-cannon.co.uk Tel: 0141 204 1833

Email: rossend@hurdrolland.co.uk Web: www.hurdrolland.co.uk Twitter: @hurd_rolland Tel: 01592 873535

Number of architects: 7 (Scotland) Number of staff: 14 (Scotland) Practice Statement: Elder and Cannon are a leading architectural practice with a portfolio of high profile projects and a reputation for innovation and high quality work within a wide range of building types.

We specialise in a number of sectors including Conservation, Housing, Education, Commercial and Masterplanning, winning national awards in each category.

Services Provided: Full Architectural Services including Conservation Accreditation.

Fletcher Joseph Associates 5 Millar Place, Edinburgh EH10 5HJ Tel: 0131 447 5000 Email: info@fletcherjoseph.com Web: www.fletcherjoseph.com Twitter: @FJArchitects Instagram: fjarchitects Number of Architects (in Scotland): 5 Number of Staff (in Scotland): 12 Services Provided: Commercial, Offices, Retail; Conservation; Education; Feasibility; Hotels; Housing, Student Accommodation; Industrial; Leisure, Sport; Masterplanning; Sustainability

Practice Statement: Hurd Rolland are celebrating 80 years in practice this year and have built up a huge breadth of experience and knowledge over those years, covering all kinds of architectural endeavour.

We focus on building strong working relationships with our clients and benefit from an extremely dedicated and highly qualified staff. Our aim is to create wonderful architecture which responds meaningfully to its location, offers a genuine and long-lasting positive contribution to the built environment and, above all, meets the aspirations of the user.

Services Provided: Architecture, Masterplanning, Conservation, Construction Technology, Expert Witness, Mediation

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Hypostyle Architects

JAMstudio Ltd

49 St Vincent Crescent, Glasgow, G3 8NG

Country Office: The Steading at Moss Side, Fetternear, Inverurie, AB51 5JX City Office: 5 Golden Square, Aberdeen AB10 1RD.

Email: glasgow@hypostyle.co.uk Web: www.hypostyle.co.uk Tel: 0141 204 4441 Practice Statement: Hypostyle Architects is a UK practice that works in all fields of Architectural Design. Specialising in Residential, Health, Education, Commercial, Master Planning, Industrial and Urban Design. The practice understands the boundaries and process of creating visually dynamic and functional buildings. During 30 years in practice, Hypostyle have established a broad and expanding client base throughout the UK, the Middle East and Europe.

We believe in design excellence and innovation in architecture and deliver functional, creative, sustainable, energy efficient and economic design solutions to our clients. To achieve this we have 24 qualified architects and 15 qualified technical staff using the latest technology, project evaluation and option analysis combined with 3D visualisation to create high quality and creative building solutions for clients.

Web: www.jamstudio.uk.com Twitter: @jamstudio_ltd Practice Statement: JAMstudio is an award winning RIAS chartered architectural practice based in Aberdeenshire. We are passionate about great design and its power to create amazing spaces, whether for a one off family home or for an inspirational workplace. We specialise in projects that are a bit different, with clients that are looking for something entirely bespoke and beautifully crafted. Size is no barrier, from a tiny two bed seaside cottage to a seven bed listed mansion; an office for four people to an office for 250+ people – we have worked and are working now on a huge variety of projects. The underlying theme for all our projects is a drive to create something beautiful, that works really well and is within the financial capacity of the client.

Services Provided: Architecture including Historic Buildings, Space Planning, Interior Design, Project Management, Planning Applications, Building Warrant Applications, Listed Building Consents, Bespoke Joinery Design, Lighting Design & Furniture Selection

inkdesign Architecture Email: info@inkdesign.co.uk Tel: 0141 552 2729 Twitter: @inkdesignarch Practice Statement: Inkdesign are a collaborative team of architects known for our personal approach.

We provide innovative design solutions for commercial, residential and community projects across Scotland and beyond. We listen to you, your thoughts, ideas and, through the development of each unique project brief, present design solutions that will meet your needs and exceed your expectations. The client is at the heart of the design process. We are committed to providing a creative, efficient and professional service. Our projects range in size and nature, and our realistic, honest approach allows us to bring you exciting, creative and deliverable architecture.

Services Provided: Residential, commercial, retail, industrial, refurbishment, sport, historic, places of worship, house extensions/renovations.

jmarchitects Head Office: 64 Queen Street, Edinburgh, EH2 4NA Tel: 0131 464 6100 Email: edinburgh@jmarchitects.net Glasgow Office: 59 Bell Street, Glasgow, G1 1LQ Tel: 0141 333 3920 Email: glasgow@jmarchitects.net Web: www.jmarchitects.net Twitter: @_jmarchitects No of Architects (in Scotland): 44 No of Staff (in Scotland): 60 Practice Statement: jmarchitects is one of the UK’s leading design practices and serves a broad public and private sector client base across the UK, through our network of studios in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Manchester and London. We champion design excellence and innovation and always strive to create spaces and places that delight and inspire. Our approach respects context and creates economic and social value for our clients and the wider community.

Services Provided: jmarchitects provides design services in architecture, masterplanning, urban planning, interior design, 3D visualisation and sustainability to both private and public sector clients.

URBAN REALM WINTER 2017 URBANREALM.COM

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Page \ Park Architects Keppie

Lewis & Hickey Ltd

160 West Regent Street, Glasgow, G2 4RL

1 St Bernard’s Row, Edinburgh, EH4 1HW, UK

Email: pmoran@keppiedesign.co.uk, dross@keppiedesign.co.uk Web: www.keppiedesign.co.uk Tel: 0141 204 0066 Twitter: @Keppie_Design Practice Statement: Keppie is one of the UK’s leading independent architectural practices. The company employs around 100 people in their Glasgow headquarters and Inverness studio. Keppie count some of the UK’s top public and private sector companies amongst their Clients, and operate across the UK and internationally.

Email: edinburgh@lewishickey.com Web: www.lewishickey.com Twitter: @Lewisandhickey Tel: 0131 343 6222 Number of architects: 6 (Scotland) Number of staff: 27 (Scotland) Services Provided: With 5 UK offices and 2 overseas we cover the country and beyond and can resource accordingly - we are big enough to cope and small enough to care. Renowned for our abilities to deliver projects we are also award winning - ‘we design...we deliver’. We cover most work sectors in depth.

20 James Morrison Street, Glasgow, G1 5PE Tel: 0141 553 5440 Twitter: @pagepark Web: www.pagepark.co.uk Practice Statement: A group of like-minded architects and designers committed to shaping the world around them in a life enhancing way by contributing environments that have at their heart an ambition to be there for as long a time as possible.

By sharing our common platform we find ourselves nurturing a blend of fresh creativity.

Services Provided: Architecture, Interior Design, Masterplanning, Conservation, Briefing

Services Provided: Architecture, Interior Design, Town Planning

Mosaic Architecture

226 West George Street, Glasgow, G2 2PQ LBA 18 Walker Street, Edinburgh EH3 7LP Tel: 0131 226 7186 Email: mail@studiolba.co.uk Web: www.studiolba.co.uk Practice Statement: LBA are dynamic and creative architects, who design progressive buildings and spaces, for pioneering property developers and private clients, who want to leave inspiring legacies.

With a young, driven, highly capable and awardwinning team, LBA are continually striving to push the boundaries of what is possible, and always looking for new and inspiring ways to create the best outcome in every project. Our approach to every project is open, innovative and challenging.

Services Provided: Residential, Listed Buildings & Conservation, Masterplanning, Sustainability, Commercial, Hotel & Leisure, Refurbishment, Interior Design

Email: neil.haining@mosaic-ad.com Web: www.mosaic-ad.com Tel: 0141 554 6977 Contact: Neil Haining- Director Practice Statement: Mosaic Architecture is an international architectural practice located in Glasgow, Scotland. The Practice is led by three directors and provides clients with a comprehensive architectural and property consultancy service.

These services include architecture, urban design, interior design, graphics, cad visualisation, masterplanning and construction management services. Over the years since its establishment in 2003 the Practice has developed a strong reputation for innovative and creative architectural design together with astute commercial awareness and pro-active project management thus ensuring the cost effective and timeous delivery of major construction projects.

Services Provided: Located in Glasgow, the practice provides architectural and interior design services and works with clients across a wide sector of the property industry including workplace, masterplanning, hotel and leisure, interior design, education, community, retail, industrial, residential and private clients.

Stallan-Brand Email: Info@stallanbrand.com Web: www.stallanbrand.com Tel: 0141 258 5015 Number of architects: 18 Number of staff: 26 Practice statement: Our studio promotes a collaborative design process and client experience.

We are champions of architecture and of an architectural approach that embraces dialogue and creative exchange. We wholeheartedly believe that together we can change the world. Our project experience over the last twenty years has proven this to us. Whether on a small or large scale we believe good design can be transformational. We are personally and professionally committed to what we do in the interests of our clients and the environment around us. We enjoy a challenge.

Services Provided: Architecture, Masterplanning- Design.

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PARK OF KEIR MARK CHALMERS

BACK AND FORTH AS JUDY MURRAY’S BACK AND FORTH VOLLEY WITH STIRLING PLANNERS ENDS IN GAME SET AND MATCH FOR HER BRIDGE OF ALLAN TENNIS ACADEMY MARK CHALMERS SIEVES THROUGH THE ACCOMPANYING RACKET OF A TORTUOUS CONSULTATION PROCESS TO ESTABLISH THE MERITS OF A SCHEME WHICH CONTINUES TO DIVIDE OPINION LIKE NO OTHER.

What the tabloids call “Judy Murray’s Tennis Academy” at Park of Keir, just outside Dunblane, has been granted planning permission by the Scottish Government. When it was refused last year by Stirling Council’s planning committee, the newspapers noted that the £37 million scheme received more than 1,000 objections but only 45 letters in support.

Many criticisms were raised over “dog whistle” issues – the destruction of the Green Belt, a lack of affordable housing, plus local roads, health centres and primary schools which couldn’t cope with more people. Underlying those are contentions which go to the heart of the Planning process.

Park of Keir lies between Dunblane and Bridge of Allan: you’ll recognise the location immediately when I mention that it lies right beside the giant roundabout where the southern end of the A9 meets the northern end of the M9 motorway. Close to the roundabout is a mobile phone mast, poorly disguised as a Wellingtonia tree.

According to the scheme’s promoters, the site has 20 years’ worth of planning history and an existing approval for a sports and hotel development. In fact, Park of Keir is a three-decadelong saga which demonstrates how major projects can become bogged down at the approval stage.

The project was conceived in 1988, when Keir & Cawder Estates presented their vision for a 370 acre site christened “Park of Keir”, consisting of a large golf course, hotel and > URBAN REALM WINTER 2017 URBANREALM.COM

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Planning snarl ups have stymied development at Park of Keir for three decades

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PARK OF KEIR

housing development. Superficially, it was not so different from the scheme today – although the balance of the constituent parts has shifted.

Park of Keir is also part of the continuing story of how New Money has usurped Old Money. The Stirling family first appear as landowners in the twelfth century. During the reign of William the Lion, they acquired the estate of Cawder (the modern Cadder, near Bishopbriggs) which stayed in the family for eight centuries; Keir was acquired in 1448 from an ancestor of the Earls of Rothes.

According to the Scotsman, the laird during the mid 20th century, Lt.-Col Bill Stirling, was a high stakes gambler. Perhaps the stakes were too high: in the early 1960’s, 5,500 acres of farmland around Cadder were sold off to an investment firm.

Then 15,000 acres at Keir were sold around 1977, including the family seat, Keir House. By 1988, the Herald noted that Keir & Cawder Estates Ltd owned only 2,500 acres in Stirlingshire and Perthshire.

When Park of Keir made the news, the tabloids were quick to point out that Bill Stirling was in the SAS during World War Two – his brother David founded the regiment – and his son Archie, the current laird, was once married to Diana Rigg. They also reported that Archie founded a right-wing political party in

the James Goldsmith mould.

So much for human interest, but the newspapers missed the point that land is a great storehouse of wealth and perhaps the surest way to preserve it. The corollary is that the break-up of Keir & Cawder Estates during the 1960’s and 70’s was the destruction of that particular family’s fortune.

Meantime, the Dunblane locals weren’t impressed by the first set of proposals. They grew afraid that the project would “merge [Dunblane and Bridge of Allan], destroy village life, and impose dreaded ribbon development.” Opposition was organised, beginning with SPOKE – Stop Park of Keir, followed

by RAGE – Residents Against Greenbelt Erosion, and currently Friends of Park of Keir, which doesn’t have a pithy acronym.

In response, the applicants emphasised that the agricultural value of the land was poor, the houses would be built at low density and screened by trees. The golf course would improve the environment, Keir & Cawder claimed, as would a butterfly farm. Finally, they also wanted to build an interpretation centre to explain the importance of agriculture and the countryside to townsers.

When the application was lodged in 1989 with Stirling District Council, it comprised a business park, interpretation centre, filling station, five star hotel, golf course and 220 luxury

Left - Irate locals have been angered by an encroachment upon greenbelt land Right - Park of Keir has suffered a troubled history

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homes. Due to the size of the development, it was called in

by Central Regional Council and it went to local inquiry in 1991. The reporter recommended against Park of Keir, and the Secretary of State for Scotland agreed with him at appeal in 1993.

As a result, the project stalled and Keir & Cawder Estates sold the land and the project on to A & L King. While Keir & Cawder are one of Scotland’s oldest-established landowners, King Group are relative newcomers. The firm was founded in the 1960’s by Duncan King’s father, but it’s only in recent decades that the firm has become a land and property developer.

In 2002, KW Properties (a joint venture between A & L King and Kilmartin Properties), lodged a new application, to build a 200 bedroom hotel, and an 18-hole golf course. There was a second public inquiry in 2004, and this time the reporter found in favour of the applicant. In 2005, outline planning permission was granted for a 150 bed hotel, plus golf course and clubhouse at Park of Keir.

In 2009, an application to renew the 2005 approval was approved by Stirling Council, as the authority had now become, but that lapsed before any work began. So the saga continued, and three years ago the project gatecrashed the world of

celebrity, which guaranteed it much more publicity than your average development attracts.

A new application was lodged in 2014, this time including a hotel, a Tennis Centre managed by Judy Murray, a Golf Centre supported by Colin Montgomerie’s management company, and a 150 acre community park with woodland walks. In addition, a new bike path was planned to connect Dunblane and Bridge of Allan.

The contentious parts of the scheme are predictable. This iteration of the scheme included 100 luxury homes which were proposed as an “exceptional case” in Planning terms, to subsidise the construction of the tennis and golf facilities.

Knowing how the Planning process works, the first application sometimes consists of a “strategic” scheme which can be negotiated down – so 100 houses were later reduced to 19 houses.

Finally, Park of Keir is intended as a home for the Murray Tennis Museum, which sounds like a universally good thing.

The Chris Hoy Velodrome notwithstanding, we’re hopeless at marking Scottish sporting achievements: think of the tiny oneroom museum at Duns devoted to double world motor-racing champion Jim Clark.

In 2014, the new scheme was submitted to Stirling Council. >

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PARK OF KEIR

Left - Bucolic landscapes provide an emotive backdrop

Right - Stamina is a common ingredient for success in both tennis and planning

In December 2015, the Planning Committee decided that the development could have a “significant detrimental impact” on a “sensitive landscape”, and there was also concern that the housing component of the scheme could “exacerbate affordability in the local area”. It was no surprise, then, that the application was rejected.

That wasn’t the end, though. In March 2016, Park of Keir Partnership submitted their appeal to the Scottish Government, and after a 18 months of deliberation, the decision to grant permission was finally announced in August 2017.

The project warranted serious scrutiny while it was going through the Planning appeal process – although the architecture press didn’t pick up on it. Yet for a long time, I struggled to see past parallels between the tennis academy at Park of Keir and the tennis school in David Foster Wallace’s book “Infinite Jest”.

Infinite Jest is a sprawling novel of ideas which is reminiscent of Thomas Pynchon’s work, but more philosophical in tone. There are three key locations in the book. The first is a man-made wasteland known as the Great Concavity, which spreads across Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire and upstate New York.

The second location is the fictional Enfield Tennis Academy (E.T.A.), a series of buildings located on top of a hill in suburban URBAN REALM WINTER 2017 URBANREALM.COM

Boston. “E.T.A. is laid out as a cardioid, with the four main inward-facing buildings convexly rounded at the back and sides to yield a cardioid’s curve, with the tennis courts and pavilions at the center and the staff and students’ parking lots in back …” The heart-shaped cardioid marks the author’s postmodern fascination with form.

Finally, there is the student union of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which is the location of a tennis tournament between the E.T.A. and a bunch of Canadian youths. Tennis is a serious business in Infinite Jest, and Foster Wallace compares the game to nuclear war – “The parabolical transcontinental flight of a liquid-fuel strategic delivery vehicle closely resembles a topspin lob.”

Foster Wallace argues that the essence of philosophy is to discover concepts which can describe bits of reality, and encourages us to critique the world on the level of abstract ideas – perhaps rather than practical issues such as “are the roads wide enough?”, and “where will the stormwater flow in winter?”

By 2016, the Park of Keir Partnership felt they’d dealt with those practical questions. Section 75 agreements dealt with affordable housing and school provision by making contributions of £241,000 and £257,000 respectively.

Environmental and traffic impact assessments dealt with other

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issues raised during the Planning process.

Yet the philosophical aspects of the development are worth exploring, partly because they’ve been ignored, and also because they hint at an interesting approach to land development. Stewart Milne Homes bought over A&L King Builders of Auchterarder in 2007. However, Duncan King cannily held on to some of his landbank, including the Park of Keir, and his firm’s evolution from general contractor to housebuilder to developer helps to reveal the sometime progression of construction firms.

Building contractors generally live with wafer-thin margins, yet their firms have a large appetite for capital. If you look at the woeful progress of Carillion’s share price recently, you’ll see that risks don’t decrease with scale. Housebuilders fare better (at least in the good times), achieving higher margins and taking fewer risks, thanks to their production line of standard housetypes. Property developers aim for higher returns than either, but they need nerves of steel and lots of patience.

The previous planning approvals didn’t turn into buildings, but the mixture of funding mechanisms now proposed at Park of Keir is novel. For example, it’s very unusual that anyone buying a home would have to purchase a debenture in the overall development. A debenture in this case is a one-off payment which will only be recovered when the property is

sold – effectively providing an interest-free loan to Park of Keir’s operating company.

The operating company, which will manage the facilities at Park of Keir, would be a Community Interest Company (CIC). The CIC is a relatively new concept, and it combines some features of a limited company, a trust and a charity – but essentially it’s a company whose revenue is ploughed back for the benefit of the community.

An Asset Lock is a fundamental feature of a CIC: so that the company’s assets can’t be sold unless the proceeds are used for the community’s benefit. Park of Keir’s developers have said they plan to transfer around 85% of the land into a CIC for the creation of a country park, and to protect much of the site from further development.

Both the debenture and asset lock prevent assets being realised for profit. That’s a big departure from normal development practice, which is either to “flip” or sell on the development once it’s finished in order to crystallise a profit, or to build and hold in order to benefit from the rental yield.

What could be the alternative? Without an extremely aggressive type of land reform, which took Park of Keir compulsorily into community ownership, the proposal to sign part of it over to community use through the CIC sounds like a workable compromise. Without it, Park of Keir was in danger >

Park Quadrant, Glasgow Registers of Scotland, Glasgow

Marischal Square, Aberdeen

Perth City Hall, Perth

Gleneagles Hotel, Edinburgh

AECC, Aberdeen

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Sustainability Consultants Lighting Designers 11/12/2017 11:36:11

PARK OF KEIR

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Park of Keir isn’t out of the woods yet

of becoming a particular kind of Great Concavity – a site neutralised by years of Planning disputes.

Similarly, objections to the scheme on the basis of Greenbelt erosion miss the point. The existing farmland and copses of trees are managed natural environments, just as the proposed golf course, country park and woodland walks would be. Claiming that the proposals destroy the Greenbelt, simply by being located between two towns, is a false premise.

On the other hand, asserting that Park of Keir is the only location around Stirling for a tennis school is spurious.

There must be a compelling case to locate it at Stirling University, where the Gannochy National Tennis Centre, a High Performance Sports Science and Sports Medicine Facility are already located On reflection, Park of Keir isn’t really about jealousy over the Murray family’s success nor whether the scheme’s promoters are millionaires – although the objectors have raised this issue on social media. Neither traffic levels on Keir Roundabout, nor development on the Greenbelt, are defining issues. In fact, I believe land tenure lies at the heart (or perhaps cardioid) of the issue at Park of Keir.

In recent decades, the Planning process has become a proxy for the struggle to exert control over something you don’t own, but nonetheless have an interest in. We have

the “right to roam” thanks to the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003, and we have the right to object to other peoples’ developments, thanks to the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1947.

Understandably, neither of those proved popular with Scotland’s landowners. If we go back seventy years or more, town planning was exercised through the feuhold system rather than local authority Planning departments. The landowner and feu superior was able to control what was built using conditions in the title deeds; landed families such as the Stirlings were effectively their own Planning authority.

The introduction of formal Town Planning after the War, and the abolition of the feudal system a few years ago utterly changed the game. According to David Foster Wallace, tennis is warfare: but Park of Keir proves that the Planning process can be a battle of attrition too, and it raises some fundamental questions about the exercise of democracy during the development process.

Whose land is it, practically speaking? Should developers be able to do whatever they want on their own property – or conversely should third parties be able to influence or even block developments on land they don’t own? That’s a vast contention which has yet to be satisfactorily resolved – the Great Concavity at the heart of the Planning process.

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NEW TOWN LES HOWSON

HOT

DAT E

EDINBURGH’S NEW TOWN IS NOW 250 YEARS OLD BUT THIS PASSAGE OF TIME HAS BEEN MARKED BY NARY A WHIMPER FROM OFFICIALDOM. IN AN EFFORT TO RIGHT THAT WRONG URBAN DESIGN DIRECTOR LESLIE HOWSON SETS OUT A PERSONAL ODE TO THIS SEMINAL PIECE OF TOWN PLANNING, WARNING THAT ITS VERY FUTURE IS AT STAKE SHOULD IT BE SACRIFICED ON THE ALTAR OF MASS TOURISM. INSTEAD HOWSON CALLS FOR THE CITY TO PUT ITS PEOPLE FIRST WITH A RENEWED EMPHASIS ON PLACEMAKING.

2017 was the 250th anniversary of the first Edinburgh New Town, an event with significance then but clearly not now, even if the new year celebrations concluded with more fireworks and noise than usual. The Edinburgh Festival feeds on the new town legacy as much as it does on the cities unique landscape setting, its great castle on the rock and its Medieval Old Town.

This unique combination is what attracts so many tourists to the city and is currently a major driver of its economy, but it surely has much more significance than that?

So, in this post anniversary year, where are we now and what of Edinburgh`s future and of its citizens? Edinburgh City Council are devising their vision for the city for the next 50+ years but who is producing this, what are its aims and what is it based on?

A vision suggests an end outcome, a final fixed image.

History has shown the errors of that approach. Is the vision the right approach to the future shaping of this great city anyway and should we be wary of all `visions`? In a fast-moving world of growth and changes, perhaps something more akin to `a road map` to the future which allows for sensible and sensitive changes of direction and emphasis. Or Perhaps the time has come for another serious Civic Study of Edinburgh, a treatise; a `comprehensive analysis’.

This would be an appraisal on urban design lines, of what Edinburgh is now, what it can and should be, reflecting on the cities historical development, what is planned, what is being built, what needs to be protected and what legacy is being built. Only then can a meaningful vision for the city be drawn up. We need to get our priorities right and make the right choices for the future of the city. Such a study would reassess the significance of first New Town, recognize current trends, URBAN REALM WINTER 2017 URBANREALM.COM

threats and issues and set down an understanding of what makes this city unique.

If the aim of the `controlling authorities` in Edinburgh is to achieve a vision, then it is first of all necessary that they understand what has been and is, before moving to what can, or should, or might be. Certainly, any vision needs to concentrate on the quality of the built environment.

Will the Edinburgh City council plan be for more tourism, or can we possibly hope for a lasting plan equal to that which begat the 7 phases of the New Town?

A true vision for real change certainly has to be the outcome of a set of clear circumstances and to be created by people who truly understand the significance of the era and have the wisdom and foresight to see beyond today’s economic circumstances. There are a number of concerns which need to be addressed some of which are tangible threats to the character of the city and to its world heritage status: • For many Edinburgh citizens, the impact of tourism is worrying with so many hotels being built, the as yet not finally quashed proposal for a hotel on Calton Hill, being the most controversial.

• There is much new housing being built in the central area, including a proliferation of often bland, pension funded student flats but too little building of family homes and little by way of true community building.

• Protection of key heritage sites and vistas, the Calton Hill hotel proposal being one, is now in question.

• Place making should be at the heart of urban planning and this should include street making. Festival Square still lacks any vibrancy; not surprising given the sterile inactive

>

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Numerous council initiatives have sought to make better use of George Street

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James Craig’s 1767 New Town plan, reproduced by Edinburgh World Heritage

frontages facing on to it. There seems to be no clear forward planning of major streets; with Fountainbridge now developed as a series of separate developments in a mismatch of architectural styles, with building forms and height seemingly justified only by the neighbouring development. What has happened to true envisioning of quality streets and spaces?

Despite successes in safeguarding the cities architectural and urban design heritage groups are still having to publicly express concerns about `creeping demolition` to make way for various new development proposals. The strongest criticism in 2017 has been for the proposal for a new luxury hotel earmarked at the former Royal High School on Carlton Hill, a proposal that is still not dead. This for many has been the last straw; a proposal seen as `tipping the balance` away from conservation, to inappropriate development.

What concerns those who oppose such drastic developments is not only the insensitive nature of specific proposals are contrary to what most citizens and affected local communities want but that such proposals ride roughshod established conservation planning legislation.

It is the interplay of the buildings and the spaces between, which are and should continue to be the music of the city experience in Edinburgh.To use a term generated by the Architectural Review as far back as the 1960s, we still see too many spaces which are simply SLOAP (spaces left over after

planning) with no real use and unused, Every space in a city should have a purpose and be interconnected both physically and visually with the whole.

Change still seems to be largely a developer led, with planning still reactive rather than proactive or creative. Master planning of individual sites one after the other is not urban design. Despite having Development Plans for parts of the city, there does not seem to be an overall holistic structure for the future of the city. Since the end of the 20th century decisions made which are shaping the city, seem to be piecemeal with no real grand plan.

Currently, the 2013 Edinburgh Local Development plan sets out the council’s aims and strategy with the outcomes sought being embodied in the Strategic Plan for the city.

Whilst the LDP sets out its aims for Edinburgh, provision of quality housing, more jobs, access to services, sustainable transportation infrastructure, maintenance of good air and water quality. The document makes clear that Edinburgh`s economy and encouraging economic development opportunities will be at the heart of the city vision, but is this the only basis for a city vision?

There is an acknowledgment of Edinburgh`s environmental assets, both built and natural and of its World Heritage Site Status. However, the current LDP says only that this may be a material consideration for decisions on planning matters and that ‘many elements of Edinburgh`s built heritage are worthy of protection’, an understatement if ever there was >

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NEW TOWN

Left - Who know what Craig would have made of the mammoth St James centre

one. NB: UNESCO requires all WHS to have a Management Plan in place with an Action Plan. It should be noted at this time that retention of Edinburgh as A World Heritage Site is currently under review by UNESCO owing to concerns about inappropriate development.

There are a number of key precepts which should surely be at the heart of any future planning policy for this city: • The drivers for change which will shape the cities future need to be wisely selected and need to be realistic and deliverable as well as sensitive to place and people.

• The Planning system needs be truly robust and effective in order to be better able to safeguard the cities rich urban heritage, its key vistas and urban design set pieces.

• Further urban growth needs to be fully structured and with a more holistic less piecemeal approach than appears to be the case at present.

• Concerns from communities and citizens regarding high impact development proposals need to be respected. New mechanisms for citizens consultations may be required in future.

• Community building should be at the heart of all new house building with clear concepts as to the character, scale and facilities.

• Urban design skills must be brought to bear into the URBAN REALM WINTER 2017 URBANREALM.COM

Right - Alternate plans for a Music School at Calton Hill

decision-making process about the future development within the city. Terry Farrell the one-time design guru for Edinburgh, spoke of the need for a mindset change from Planning being driven by reactive development control to proactive and creative city making and called specifically for three-dimensional spatial planning at the right scale.

Whatever decisions are made, the importance of legacy cannot be overstated. What we decide to build today we live with for years to come. Equally, what we destroy today cannot be re instated. The first New Town plan left a great and lasting legacy to this city. It provided a bold and clearly defined urban structure which was able to grow incrementally, in a continuing organized manner for all its seven phases.

Any vision for the city has to be relevant and realistic.

Land ownership and economic power and politics have often been the controlling factors and will probably continue to be so. Delivery of the first New Town required acquisition of farm land by the city council but there was also a political will based on both social, environmental as well as economic needs.

Informing Edinburgh citizens and communities about major development proposals, should be a significant part of the planning process. However, there seems to be very little by way of early consultation, probably one reason why there is so much community opposition to major developments.

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For most citizens of Edinburgh, development just seems to happen. The first many know about it is when announced in the press or when the bulldozers arrive on a site. By contrast, in other European cities like Milan, there are Urban Information centres which inform the cities citizens on an on-going basis.

We do have a planning portal for information but who has time in their busy lives to trawl such sites on a regular basis? We also have a community council system run by local voluntary worthies who are consulted and do comment and even oppose development proposals, but they are rarely fully representative of their communities. When, as with the Royal High School proposal, local residents do come together they can demonstrate their opposition, though they are only effective if they are then able to put pressure on their local councillors.

Surely in this internet age, cities like Edinburgh (already part of the Scottish `Smart Cities Alliance`) need to use `smart systems` not only with regards to provision of services and transportation but to gauge what their citizens really want on an ongoing basis and before particular development proposals become too far advanced to be questioned. This should be a normal part of participatory democracy.

Early stage public consultation might be criticized by some as off putting to investors in new development within the city, but the opposite is likely to be the case, as citizens views will

be part of the initial briefing, more so than is often the case at present.

What is surely important with any envisioning process for the future shaping of this city, is that the very special urban qualities and characteristics of Edinburgh`s historic centre should be fully respected, safeguarded and valued for their unique urban design qualities, for what they can inform city planners about urban design.

It seems that the history of the successes of conserving of Edinburgh`s unique urban design qualities has over the years, been the result of the activities of its citizens and conservationists from Sir Patrick Geddes and the New Town conservation movement to the various community groups of the past 20 years.

The vision which produced the first New Town, was based on social, political and even economic grounds and produced a great and lasting legacy. It was a bold and holistic and wise approach to urban planning. The issue to be debated now for Edinburgh is, will the cities priority for economic growth outweigh the safeguarding of the cities unique built heritage?

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JOHN GLENDAY

CURTA I N RA I SER Ben Derbyshire’s RIBA debut coincides with a period of unprecedented upheaval

AS THE RIAS GOES TO GROUND OVER A NEBULOUS FINANCIAL SCANDAL WHICH THREATENS TO ENGULF IT URBAN REALM CATCHES UP WITH BEN DERBYSHIRE, NEWLY INSTALLED HEAD OF ITS BIGGER BROTHER DOWN SOUTH, TO SEE HOW HE AIMS TO BRING EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP TO A RUDDERLESS PROFESSION AT A TIME OF NATIONAL UPHEAVAL.

© JOHANNES MARBURG

Newly installed RIBA president Ben Derbyshire may have been in post for only four months but he has already hit the ground running with a welter of initiatives designed to re-energise the somewhat disenfranchised membership. With the RIAS reeling from the surprise departure of Neil Baxter as secretary does Derbyshire have what it takes to lead a profession in turmoil?

Having risen through the ranks over a 40-year career at HTA Derbyshire can bring plenty of experience to the table but was a relatively late convert to the specific allure of the RIBA. A desire to hand over the reins to a new generation at HTA and leave a lasting legacy to the profession prompted Derbyshire to put himself forward, telling Urban Realm: “I used to be involved in the RIBA a long time ago when I was on what was then >

RIBA

known as a community architecture group but I lost contact for three decades. It’s only been quite recently that I’ve come to think about the role of the architectural profession in society and the potential contribution to making a better place for us to live that I’ve come to understand that there is a job to be done. I wanted to put my shoulder to the wheel.”

Decades in practice have given Derbyshire a particular perspective on his profession, one that is shaped by what he feels has been a steady erosion in prestige since he first joined HTA in 1976, saying: “I believe over the past half century the extent to which society values architects contribution has declined quite badly and we’ve ended up quite marginalised by comparison with where we were after the war, when the welfare state was being constructed. The extent to which our influence has declined and our fortunes with it is a matter of great concern.” In an effort to stop the rot Derbyshire intends to harness his presidency to convince wider society of the valuable contribution architects can make, observing that ‘clients might reward us with more value for our work’.

Outlining just how he intends to reach this promised land Derbyshire stressed the importance of collaborative research, setting the RIBA on course to ‘build a body of knowledge which we can share with our members and ultimately society which would enable clients to recognise the value of our contributions.’ This will dovetail with an overhaul of academia to enhance its relevance and bolster the relationship between academia, practice and research. Derbyshire said: “One of the problems of architectural education in England is the degree of borrowing that’s required. Students often owe £100k by the time they’re qualified, and I think that impacts particularly on the diversity of the profession. We need to do something about the relative paucity of representation of diverse groups including the ratio of men and women. The overarching theme for my presidency is equality because I believe the contribution the profession can make on current issues is to remind everybody of the meaning of equality and the way in which it impacts directly on outcomes.”

With a turnover of over £20m per year, 250 staff and 43,000 members, 10,000 of whom hail from overseas the RIBA isn’t short of the necessary resources to tackle these issues with Derbyshire quick to point out that there is a body of people behind him. He said: “My role is quasi-executive I’m not just the stuffed, blonde shoved out in front of audiences. People often come into my office and exclaim,’ you actually do work here!’

And I say, ‘well what do you think I’m doing?!’”

Despite its efforts the RIBA has struggled to overcome a lack of engagement from the membership, as evidenced

by Derbyshire’s own election where turnout barely scraped above a miserable 15%. Having talked a good game about architects retaking control of the RIBA how does Derbyshire intend to put his words into practice? What will it take to reenergise the grassroots? Derbyshire answered: “I toured the country in my year of being president-elect, talking to qualified URBAN REALM WINTER 2017 URBANREALM.COM

© KWAME OHENE-ADU

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Derbyshire faces a daunting in tray

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» The message I get is that people,

especially outside London, would like to see a more devolved allocation of resources enabling activity and engagement for architects with societies and markets wherever they happen to be. «

practitioners and students so I’ve heard a lot about how people want to engage. The message I get is that people, especially outside London, would like to see a more devolved allocation of resources enabling activity and engagement for architects with societies and markets wherever they happen to be. One can well imagine a market where more local resources enable architects to have an active and engaged role in the cities and towns where they happen to be. The way to impact on the environment is to do so in a way which is relevant to particular circumstances. We need to begin with the young for example such as allowing students to vote for the president of their choice.”

In one of his first acts as president Derbyshire threw open the doors to young architects at Portland Place and invited 500 people into Florence Hall for a boisterous bash, raising £40k for student charities, while at the same time bridging the cultural divide by bringing in musicians. The regional push has also taken concrete form with the unveil of RIBA North in Liverpool, branding which alienated some north of the border.

Derbyshire said: “I gather some people were saying it’s not really north it’s south of us! We had to call it something and it’s a bit like the Stirling Prize, you can’t please everyone all of the time. My view of that is it’s close to my agenda of delivering local activity and I’d like to see that not just on Liverpool but >

RIBA

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URBAN REALM WINTER 2017 URBANREALM.COM

© JOHANNES MARBURG

© JOHANNES MARBURG

everywhere. Liverpool has produced a big and sophisticated physical presence but what matters to me most isn’t the physical presence but other connections. It’s not the artefacts that matter but the activities that they generate. I would like to see this happen all over the place. I’m not going to speak for Scotland because I think the RIAS is the place where Scottish architects should turn. I’m speaking for England, Wales and Northern Ireland.”

Given the ongoing crisis besetting Derbyshire’s Edinburgh colleagues how does he see the partnership developing in future? Is there an opportunity to strengthen those relationships further, or even for the RIAS to adopt elections for the presidency: “I’m certainly not going to comment on constitutional issues for the RIAS, that would be completely inappropriate and totally a matter for that organisation,” said Derbyshire. “On a general point on collaboration well yes on all of those things. We have an emphasis on our work at the RIBA on what we call a global agenda but for me that’s a hub and spoke relationship between the RIBA and the rest of the world. If we can’t develop themes which are shared between ourselves then we’re not going to be able to do it effectively with North American or other international chapters.

“I’m interested in the global challenge which I think is of interest to potential younger members of the profession who have increasing concern for the plight of our planet and the human condition and the way that people are housed across the globe, not just the developing world. The United Nations sustainable development goal 11 for quality, affordable, sustainable housing for citizens is a problem just as much for us in London and Edinburgh because of the affordability problem.”

In terms of global issues one of the most pressing is >

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Left - RIBA North marks a conscious effort to break out of the Portland Place bunker Right - Derbyshire is a keen proponent of further devolution

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This site specific installation in Hull sees the RIBA bring 2017’s UK City of Culture to international attention

Brexit, having spoken out on some of the issues arising from this -specifically the ability of practices to recruit talent from Europe, does Derbyshire think the profession is well placed to ride out a gathering storm which looks set to break on his watch? Derbyshire responded: “I was at both Labour and Conservative party conferences this year and I’m constantly to and fro between politicians and ministers to point out to them the way in which delivery of their policies, particularly housing, rely on a supply chain and constructors many of whom are EU nationals.

“We’re constantly stressing that 25% of architects practicing in UK (or England/wales) are EU nationals. In my own practice it’s more like 35%. In the south east and London in Particular more than half the operatives on sites are EU nationals. It’s plain as a pike staff that until we secure certainty on that we’re going to have an unsettled part of the built environment supply chain and I’ve warned both parties that people are already starting to slip away because they can’t rely on a future here.

In terms of our relationship with the EU and the rest of the world we’re working on the equivalence of our qualifications and the ability for people to contribute mutually. We accept Brexit is going to happen and we need to be ready with a response to it and one of those is a housing expo, with a wide

canvas to appeal to a global audience, showcasing talent and our ability to deliver innovative and high-quality housing.”

In your conversations with politicians and government is architecture treated with the degree of seriousness which it deserves? Are politicians on board with your agenda or is it like pulling teeth? “For tragic reasons there is a new concern to take seriously the issues that we are raising. Politicians are more than usually acutely aware of the need to acquaint themselves with issues which we’ve been talking about for a long time. On things like quality, predictability and performance of the built environment. The Edinburgh schools experience and Grenfell tower, both of those have created a new openness to listen to the issues of whether regulations are fit for purpose and whether the regulatory regimes work effectively and whether people can be assured of a built environment which apart from delivering wellbeing is not going to harm them.”

Looking beyond his short tenure at the RIBA Derbyshire has set out his stall on the basis of reversing a ‘spiral of decline’ in which the profession finds itself mired. Derbyshire said: “If people perceive that I’ve been able to reverse that spiral of decline into an ascending one, then hopefully I will have turned the tide.” With the RIAS presently leaderless and rudderless the onus is on Derbyshire to speak out and bring some calm to the present turmoil.

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HOUSING CRISIS PETER WILSON

THE NEW NO RMA L The provision of housing in the UK - or the lack of - is, without doubt, one of the biggest political issues of our time, shaded only by the unfolding catastrophe of Brexit and, in England and Wales, by the seemingly inevitable collapse of the NHS south of the border as a publicly-funded, free at the point of use, provider of medical support to the nation’s population.

A controversial statement perhaps, but when the UK Government itself has published a paper entitled ‘Fixing our Broken Housing Market’ (February 2017) you know there is a systemic problem but which, with only three pages of the 104 page document given over to affordable housing and a further three to issues of sustainability, it sadly fails to answer. The clue lies, perhaps, in the use of the word ‘market’ and the country’s long-term over-reliance on the role of volume house-builders to deliver the huge numbers of homes now required on an annual basis. Meeting the demands of a population conditioned since 1980 by a Housing Act that introduced the notion that the Right to Buy as being somehow a Human Right, as well as by significant changes in national demographics has undoubtedly complicated matters.

Not that one would notice any evidence of wide-ranging demographic engagement in the estates of new homes emerging on vast swathes of land to the south of Edinburgh - marketed as 3-4 bedroom luxury homes, the needs of the elderly, the first time buyer, the single parent family and others with incomes of less than £70,000 a year are not the > URBAN REALM WINTER 2017 URBANREALM.COM

THE ABJECT FAILURE OF THE UK TO FULFIL THE MOST BASIC NEED OF ITS POPULATION, HOUSING, HAS TROUBLED POLITICIANS OF ALL SHADES FOR GENERATIONS. WITH SEEMINGLY NO EASY SOLUTIONS ON THE HORIZON ARCHITECT AND TIMBER DESIGN INITIATIVES DIRECTOR PETER WILSON GRABS THE BULL BY THE HORNS TO ARGUE FOR A RADICAL RETHINK OF HOW WE APPROACH THE ISSUE, ALIGHTING ON A COLLECTIVE CUSTOM BUILD PROJECT IN PORTOBELLO FOR INSPIRATION.

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HOUSING CRISIS

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Get Living have swapped the London’s east end for Glasgow for this Stallan-Brand build

natural hunting grounds for the 20 or so volume housebuilders that dominate housing provision in the UK. Tasked with delivering 250,000+ homes per year in England and Wales and more than 50,000 in Scotland, their dominant position in the industry is entirely unmatched by any resolve to meet the challenge. Year-on-year, the numbers of new homes built barely reaches 60% of the requirement, resulting in an exponential annual increase in the gap between demand and delivery.

Other factors, of course, impact on this too: difficulties in obtaining mortgages in the post-2008 economic climate, for example, despite banks being encouraged by various government incentive schemes to widen lending: ‘Help to Buy’ - as widely predicted - simply saw the price of newbuild flats inflated in response. That the money from these initiatives has been hoovered up by a grateful housebuilding industry can readily be demonstrated by the stratospheric bonuses the major companies have recently announced for their chief executives: Jeff Fairburn, the now-departed boss of Persimmon trousered an astonishing share bonus of £110m before taking his leave, whilst the CEOs at Berkeley Group, Taylor Wimpey and Barratt Homes are in line for £5.5m, £2.1m and £1.7m respectively under Long Term Incentive Plans (LTIPs).

To be fair, the UK Government itself has recognised the need to circumvent the dominance of the volume housebuilders and their avaricious acquisition - and holding - of developable land by the introduction of the Self Build and Custom Housebuilding Act of 2015 and the Housing and

Planning Act of of 2016. The former is intended to secure the release of publicly-owned land to self builders and to custom house-builders (for groups aiming to construct between 5 and 200 homes), whilst the latter, amongst other things, underpinned the support of this sector with substantial funding (and we’re talking several billion pounds here) accessible through the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA). Under these acts, every one of England’s 360+ local authorities is required to maintain not only a register of publicly-owned land within its boundaries that can be released for self or custom house-building but also a register of those individuals and groups seeking to construct new homes on this land.

Less free to commit large amounts of money in support of any similar initiative, the approach to self build and custom build taken by the Scottish Government is arguably aspirational rather than anything that might be regarded as a challenge to the hegemony of the country’s major house builders. Indeed, Scottish Government ambitions - and funding - to ensure more affordable homes are constructed is largely channelled via conventional routes, i.e. to the selfsame builders that have singularly failed to date to deliver the numbers and types of homes the country needs. Yes, there are loan schemes for self building (mostly available in the Highlands) but these are clearly aimed at delivering very small numbers of new houses on individual plots, whilst the notion of custom build has been addressed quite differently from the way now motoring forward in large areas of England. In part this might be seen to be about the >

HOUSING CRISIS

availability of funds, but it can also be interpreted as a lack of creative thinking as to how a substantial part of Scotland’s housing needs can be met through more direct community involvement: a bottom-up rather than a top-down approach.

For many architects, however, the idea of anything associated with self-build conjures up horror stories of whimsical projects ‘designed’ and constructed by their owners with the aid of family and friends, whilst the concept of custom build remains largely unfamiliar territory. Suffice to say, the latter is not simply self-build on steroids: there are now numerous specialist, nationwide companies in England engaged in helping hundreds of people to get the custom build new homes they want each year, most of which have a high level of architectural involvement. Practices such as HTA have taken a lead in this area and it is clearly a field of activity that offers real possibilities for the profession to affect not only the standards of housing provision but to deliver design solutions that are qualitatively distinct from the volume house-builders’ standard caveat emptor product.

Collective custom build takes a slightly different approach: whereas the individual self-builder has relatively few choices, a group of households can pool their knowledge and skills to overcome the political, legal and physical barriers to development. One such has grown out of the PEDAL group in Portobello, near Edinburgh and, led by architect John Kinsley, have produced an exemplar project in the town’s Bath Street for others to learn from and follow.

Already a resident in the area, John was aware of the site and of its price, having previously been involved in a (failed) lottery application by PEDAL to develop it. An advertisement by the architect in Portobello Online led to the creation of a group of potential owner-occupiers and the formation of the Bath Street Collective Custom Build Ltd development company - a necessary exercise to enable the purchase of the land. The gap plot had formerly been occupied by two tenements and already had planning permission for a pastiche version of the same but, long empty, Edinburgh’s planning department was receptive to a design more empathetic to the street’s diverse architectural character.

With a new permission approved at the end of 2015, the project started on site in Autumn 2016 and was completed in July 2017 - on the face of it, an extraordinarily quick process, but one preceded by considerable discussion between the prospective owners to ensure their individual requirements could be met within the plans for the building’s four apartments. Each of the building’s four shareholders was already committed to a low energy solution and, whilst not certified as such, the new block has effectively been constructed to meet Passivhaus standards. Key to delivering these - and to the build speed - has been the decision to use cross laminated timber for the walls, floors and roof construction. Produced by Egoin in the north of Spain, four lorry loads of panels arrived together with > URBAN REALM WINTER 2017 URBANREALM.COM

ALL IMAGES © JOHN REIACH

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Amidst market failure this Collective Cstom Build in Portobello, Edinburgh, points the way to one possible future

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HOUSING CRISIS

© JOHN REIACH

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Architect John Kinsley is at the forefront of efforts to plug a void left by mass housebuilders

three joiners who, with the addition of a crane driver and a banksman, proceeded to erect the entire structure in nine days. Externally, the building is faced in stone with a timber screen at ground floor level permitting access to the rear, but internally the use of solid wood is entirely visible - the plan form of the new infill block is three bays wide and three bays deep, an ‘OXO’ layout in which the exposed timber walls (coated with flame retardant) of the central square contain the communal stair.

The effect on the senses is palpable: the fresh smell of the pine surfaces indicates immediately that this is no conventional tenement, an impression compounded by the realisation that the top of the stair provides further access to the still emerging communal roof garden. The top flat is owned and occupied by the architect and, in its elegant and spacious showcasing of the building’s conception and construction (the CLT is also exposed here, this time coated in a transparent white stain), it also represents something of a manifesto for Collective Custom Build: yes, each flat is bespoke in layout, but no developer has been involved in the design and construction; the residents have been able to buy at cost and have been involved as owners from day

one; each is part of a collective responsibility for the building (thus eschewing the usual caveat emptor developer factor); and each has a commitment to the area and to involvement in the local community.

In the Bath Street Collective Custom Build, the architect has been central (indeed fundamental) to the project’s gestation; so much so that he has now structured his practice around this approach to the creation of new housing by guiding/leading other projects, providing key architectural services in the course of doing so. Certainly, much experience has been gained here, not least in the financial and legal issues arising in this still emerging form of procurement. The proof is in the pudding, however: genuinely affordable housing that has been built to last and which recognises that the dwell time in a home in which the owners have been directly involved in the design and construction is around three times as long as one bought via traditional routes. Other architects can learn much from this pioneering project, not least in how the profession might secure effective involvement in this growing sector - and drive an alternative view of how housing of real and enduring quality can be delivered in Scotland.

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PROCUREMENT RAB BENNETTS

PAPER CHASE IF ONE WORD IS LIKELY TO STRIKE FEAR AMONG ARCHITECTS THEN PROCUREMENT IS LIKELY TOP THE BILL. BENNETTS ASSOCIATES DIRECTOR RAB BENNETTS HAS SUFFERED HIS OWN FAIR SHARE OF SUCH TRIBULATIONS. URGING THE PROFESSION TO MIND ITS P’S AND PPQ’S NO MORE BENNETTS BRAVELY VENTURES INTO A KAFKAESQUE WORLD WHERE BUREAUCRACY, RED TAPE AND ENDLESS QUESTIONNAIRES HOLD SWAY. HERE HE PUTS FORWARD THE CASE FOR NEW METRICS SUCH AS AWARDS, REFERENCES AND A COMMITMENT TO YOUNGER PRACTICES.

Procurement is one of those words guaranteed to make architects - and many others in the design and construction industry - froth at the mouth. It’s now more than thirty years since I set up Bennetts Associates and procurement processes have had a greater negative impact on the architectural profession than anything else in that time.

Gone are the days when an enlightened patron for a college, gallery or theatre can interview a shortlist of architects and make their choice based on trust and an understanding of their approach. Gone are fixed fee scales of course, but so too are all attempts to provide sensible guidance. Gone are the local authority architects departments, who might have been the most suitable vehicles for many public projects.

The values of the market dominate procurement processes and much else. Now there seems to be no limit to the extent that architects will undercut each other or give away vast amounts of intellectual capital for no fee. Those who appoint architects, who now include contractors as well as direct clients, often feel able to cherry-pick the architects’ duties, undermining the meaning of a proper professional service.

URBAN REALM WINTER 2017 URBANREALM.COM

None of these observations are new but I wonder if the examinations of the Grenfell Tower disaster and the Edinburgh schools construction problems will prompt some self-examination by architects, clients and their advisors alike. Add in Brexit and this is a highly appropriate moment to question how architects are selected and the impact of professionalism on design.

Whereas private sector selection processes have far more scope for clients to use their judgement, it’s the public sector, worth 40% of the total market, where thirty years of changes to the architect’s role, remuneration and status have had the greatest influence on general attitudes to procurement. Younger or smaller practices have come off worst, but everyone has suffered from the layers of unnecessary bureaucracy, including clients who are often deprived of the best possible building.

At the heart of his bureaucratic quagmire is the Official Journal of the European Union, which is the launch-pad for competitive selection processes where public money is involved. I’ve heard it said that Brexit will free us from OJEU, but doesn’t the problem lie instead with the peculiarly British approach to the ticking of boxes? British civil servants, once famous throughout the empire for >

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Bennetts issues an impassioned rallying call to slice through red tape run rampant Š GENE WILBURN

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PROCUREMENT

Bennetts believes there are few projects which actually necessitate many years prior experience

their administrative skills, are extremely unlikely to ditch a system of accountability so painstakingly invented for public sector procurement.

Much of the guidance on scoring systems for OJEU processes emanates from the Treasury in fact, not Europe, where there are alternative ways of choosing architects.

British assessors love empirical, hard-to-argue-with scoring systems even when they are obviously producing unwanted results.

By way of example, the quality:cost ratios such as 70:30 or perhaps 60:40 might seem benign, but have become a parody of criteria that have little to do with architectural skill. In particular, the cost element can see huge disparities between architects, such that the lowest fee dominates quality even when the ratio suggests otherwise. As Pevsner once remarked, “the English will spare no expense to do something on the cheap”! (Sadly, I suspect he would have included the Scots, Welsh and Northern Irish too.) This is not an attitude that will disappear with Brexit.

Challenging this fixation with lowest cost or risk is a huge task, but that’s the opportunity presented by the triple whammy of Grenfell, Edinburgh schools and Brexit.

URBAN REALM WINTER 2017 URBANREALM.COM

When a public sector client needs advice to kick off the selection process, the die is cast when they first go to a lawyer, quantity surveyor or project manager. As a result, the scoring systems will fail to reflect the real qualitative differences between architects, the needs of the project and the true costs over time. In my view, this can only change if clients are able to heed advice from those who understand better the role of the architect and the importance of design. A few practical examples provide real examples of another way.

• The cultural complex in the Olympic Park is a huge project demanding a large team, but the OJEU notice included a call for young firms to have a role within any multi-practice consortium. Single firm proposals didn’t make the shortlist and the winning consortium (led for practical reasons by Aecom) included Allies & Morrison, O’Donnell + Tuomey and a young Spanish architect.

• Another example involves a Scottish higher education institution which tackled the troublesome fees issue by eliminating the highest and the lowest on the basis they were, respectively, unaffordable or unrealistic, so the >

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Above - Stratfordâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Olympicopolis brief specified that young firms play a role Below - Standardised schools now employ off the shelf designs

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PROCUREMENT

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Brexit has been touted as a fast track exit from the OJEU process but Bennetts is not so sure

choice could be made largely on quality as the remaining practices were commercially close together.

» Alternative criteria are already available that could avoid the most common injustices, such as the requirement to have recently built three similar projects. «

• In other examples, not all in UK, the fee was a fixed sum, with the contest based on an approach to design and a hefty percentage of the final score being reserved for the interview. This allowed the final assessment to examine how the team worked with each other and with the client.

• On another very significant London cultural project, the 30% commercial element was split equally between the fee and the resource. As a result, a low resource with a poor score would counter-balance a low fee with a high score, thereby eliminating another of the inherent contradictions in many financially-biased scoring systems.

The point of raising these examples is to demonstrate that alternative criteria are already available that could avoid the most common injustices, such as the requirement

to have recently built three similar projects or to have absurdly high levels of P.I. insurance cover. All it takes is for the initial advisers to properly understand the nature of the project and the role of the architect from the first client conversation onwards.

Back in the mid -‘90s I was invited by the then President of the RIBA, Frank Duffy, to overhaul the competition system as the arrival of Lottery-funded projects was causing real concern about the amount of speculative work. The result was a series of competition guidelines that was adopted by the two Government departments that looked after architecture and planning.

These guidelines had a reasonable impact for a while and it proved to me that positive campaigning combined with practical proposals could be well received by the public sector. More recently Willie Watt did much good work for the RIAS in this area, so maybe what we need is a full time campaigner with more time at their disposal than a short- >

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PROCUREMENT

Convincing clients to shed their fixation on lowest cost bids remains the greatest challenge

term appointee.

I had another go about four years ago, this time as a Trustee of Design Council CABE. I presented a proposal for revised procurement criteria to the All Party Parliamentary Committee for Excellence in the Built Environment - (no, I hadn’t heard of it before, either!). The proposal was based on the principles that the primary client adviser should be a design adviser or architect (of which Design Council CABE and A&DS both have a pool to draw from), and that selection criteria should be relevant to the design of the project. The presentation also highlighted the iniquitous scoring systems that currently favour URBAN REALM WINTER 2017 URBANREALM.COM

large over small, experience over ability and cheapness over appropriateness. Although these proposals were welcomed, it was the lack of follow-up that meant they weren’t adopted; I had to get on with my day job and there was no-one else with the time to take it on.

The key point I learned from these campaigns, backed up by legal advice, is that selection criteria can be flexible to suit the circumstances but they have to be clearly stated at the outset of the selection process. Transparent accountability when it comes to spending public money can’t be avoided, nor should it be as the Garden Bridge fiasco exemplified, so once the process is started it

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must stick with what was said in the briefing material accompanying the OJEU Notice. That’s why the initial briefing should include a design adviser or architect, not just lawyers or project managers.

Sometimes a project really does require many years of past experience but that is relatively rare; it would be equally possible to list criteria based on awards, or references, or to have part of the shortlist reserved for younger firms, or to radically change the percentages allocated to design and cost.

Another possibility is to adopt something like the ‘Brooks Method’ used in the U.S. whereby the fee

submission is only opened once a winner has been chosen on quality grounds. I’m told this is sometimes used in Europe already, as is the idea of a fixed fee for all competitors.

If we want different outcomes, then, we need to change the source and type of the advice provided to clients so that it is more relevant and more creative. Perhaps the climate of change brought about by Brexit, Grenfell Tower and the Edinburgh schools closures will provide the chance to turn the tide. After thirty years in practice observing at first hand the erosion of the architect’s role, a re-think can’t come soon enough.

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HOME FRONT JOHN GLENDAY

DEVELOPERS IN EDINBURGH FACE A DOUBLE-EDGED SWORD OF SCANT LAND SUPPLY AND STRINGENT PLANNING SO HOW DO THEY SQUARE THE CIRCLE? WE SPEAK TO GLENCAIRN PROPERTY AND THEIR ARCHITECTS TO FIND OUT HOW THEY ARE DISCARDING PASTICHE WITH PANACHE.

URBAN REALM WINTER 2017 URBANREALM.COM

© KEVIN MCCOLLUM

© KEVIN MCCOLLUM

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Left - Open plan living spaces come to the fore Right - Woodhall Drive by LBA marries modern living with expansive views to the Pentland Hills

Much of the country lies in the grip of a housing crisis but nowhere is the crisis more acute than Edinburgh, where a strong economy, changing demography and a lack of developable land have conspired to exacerbate a growing housing shortage. Against this backdrop Glencairn Property is leading by example with a succession of interventions across the city; teaching volume builders a lesson or two in the process.

The developer has just finished work at Woodhall Drive townhouses and is poised to begin work on a redevelopment of a B-listed Leith Cinema Urban Realm caught up with Glencairn managing director Daryl Teague to learn more. He explained: “I have an opportunity as a developer to build houses that I want to live in. It’s interesting to use different construction techniques and go down this Scandinavian/Modernist route, design is where we can stay out in front of everyone else. Our goal is to take on the volume housebuilder market and say you can do something that is modern and will stand the test of time. We’ve had the likes of Barratt visit Bellevue Colonies for example and then two years later they’re on-site with their version of the Colonies (Barratt @ Portobello).”

Designed by EMA Architects, Bellevue Colonies emphasizes social interaction with each car free home sharing the same path, stairs and gardens. Is it the case that customers are becoming more design conscious in terms of how a building looks from the outside and not just the interior layout and furnishings. Is kerb appeal becoming more important to prospective purchasers? Teague said: “Obviously you’ve got Pinterest, Instagram, Grand Designs and Houzz. People are conscious of good design because of the way those designs are pushed out on social media. Everybody aspires to that open plan look now but we have little pockets which can be opened and closed with private terraces and concise bedrooms.”

Weighing in on the importance of strong architecture David Hill, design director of LBA, said: “People would have modern interiors inside a traditional house, or even a traditional looking pastiche house, when I started professionally 15 years ago.

Now there seems to be more of a drive for grand designs, it’s no longer as alien to the general public. it’s just about doing something which is timeless and would be attractive to anyone with a certain amount of taste.” I think if people were offered this style of house at volume they would go for it rather than >

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BUILDING

BIOPHILIC OFFICE DESIGN OFFICES ARE ALL TOO OFTEN STERILE SPACES BUT BY EMBRACING NATURE INSTEAD OF ABANDONING IT CAN THEY BE MADE MORE PRODUCTIVE? Everyone can agree that we should aim to create better, happier and healthier places of work that are energising, stimulating but also calming, relaxing and restorative.

If considering refurbishing the office you might want to consider a biophilic design approach.

We spend 90% of our lives in buildings which means our health and wellbeing is influenced significantly by the built environment. In our typical office environment in the UK up to 60% of staff don’t have sufficient access to daylight. Stress related and mental health issues are becoming prime causes of illness. Global urbanisation is resulting in disconnect from nature and the natural environment. The proliferation of mobile communication means there are now few opportunities or places to literally ‘switch off’. Biophilic design acknowledges that we are genetically connected to nature and that a human centred approach can improve many of the spaces that we live and work, with numerous benefits to our health and wellbeing and efficiency. Biophilic design sets out to improve our connection to nature in buildings. This is done by improving our direct connection with plants, trees, water and natural light; or through mimicking elements of nature by the use of natural colours, textiles and material choices.

The scientific evidence for the positive influence of biophilic design, on the health and wellbeing of building occupants is substantial and growing. In an office environment this is shown as quantified improvements in productivity, wellness and a reduction in days absent due to illness. More than 130 million days are lost to sickness absence every year in the UK and workingage ill health costs the national economy £100 billion a year. A 1% reduction in absenteeism would convert to a saving in lost days alone of £1 billion to the economy.

In addition, a 15% increase in operational productivity enabled by the internal fit-out of your office adds further benefit.

BRE has launched The Biophilic Office project – a ground-breaking office refurbishment project that will

provide quantified evidence on the benefits of biophilic design on health, well-being and productivity of office occupants. The project centres on a 650m2 1980s office building on the BRE campus in Watford, which will be refurbished according to biophilic design principles.

BRE is partnering with designer Oliver Heath, who will lead on the design element of the refurbished building.

A host of other founding core partners are involved to bring their industry expertise into the project.

“The project will show how quantified improvements in productivity and wellness can bring rewards for landlords, occupiers, developers and all those concerned with the office and wider built environment” says Ed Suttie, Research Director at BRE. This comprehensive and long-term study is unique in terms of scale and data capture. It will provide a firm foundation for guidance and adoption of measures in the facilities management and refurbishment sectors to promote health and wellbeing in offices.

More information on the project can be found at www.bregroup.com/biophilic On Twitter @BRE_Group #biophilicoffice Rufus Logan Director of BRE Scotland

Scottish Enterprise Technology Park, East Kilbride, Glasgow, G75 0RZ Tel: 01355 576200 Email: CertifiedThermalProducts@bre.co.uk Web: www.bre.co.uk/certifiedthermalproducts

HOME FRONT

© KEVIN MCCOLLUM

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Glencairn specialise in bringing tight, forgotten scraps of land back into use

being offered the same kind of thing again and again.”

Having led design for a townhouse terrace at Woodhall Drive in Juniper Green, on the outskirts of Edinburgh Hill is adept at drafting site specific solutions. Of course the finest design in the world is nothing without the land to build ion, a very real issue in a city like Edinburgh which, unlike its neighbor to the west, lacks the widespread land left by slum clearance and industrial decline. How do Glencairn go about finding appropriate sites? Teague concedes there is an element of luck involved but adds: “You’ve just got to try and speak to people, make connections and not be shy. At Woodhall we could see the opportunity to build four houses, putting us ahead of the pack who wanted to build three houses, so we were able to pay the right amount of money to win it.”

“At Woodhall we were restricted in terms of getting a certain number of bedrooms of a certain size”, says Hill. “With the voids and the glass balustrades it’s essentially one building split into four open plan elements with the curtain wall down the middle. You can see almost straight through, people don’t want to be hemmed into little rooms. You could be on the first floor go out onto the balcony with views of the Pentlands

or slide the doors back and talk to someone in the kitchen.

We had to be quite clever with the screening so we’ve got fins which let the light through but don’t allow you to see the person adjacent. A shared driveway opens up the site with joint ownership, helping to establish a sense of community behind the hedge.”

Catering to a new trend of homeowners wishing to move back into city centre locations in pursuit of greater amenities on their doorstep Hill believes that the model can be rolled out on other constrained sites in the city. He said: “So long as you have the green spaces and play areas people like the density.”

Teague continued: “Houses marketed in the £500k range are more for aspirational buyers between 34 and 46. Generally they will find us from Facebook, they’re 80% female and they’re looking at 20:00 at night. They’re all moving out of the New Town after having had a kid.”

Looking ahead will Glencairn mine this niche with a steady stream of similar scaled projects, or could they scale up to go after the volume market? Teague said: “It’s all site-specific. The next site is going to be 36 flats down in Leith for an old 1930’s cinema that’s being retained at the front.” For now Glencairn >

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HOME FRONT

» We look at Edinburgh, this great

Georgian and Victorian city but we will be our own period of time in the future. People who comment on our plans focus on them being inkeeping «

are predominantly sticking to new build mindful of the can of worms which can be opened up when you start to peel back historic structures.

One project already underway is the development of three townhouses at Liberton Brae overlooking Edinburgh’s Royal Observatory and Liberton Tower. Explaining the complexities of this particular site Hill said: “It’s got incredible views on one side and a school and car park on the other so we had to open up views to one side and use hit and miss timber to conceal it from the other. There are three original barns and we’ve used that aesthetic for a contemporary version.

“While Woodhall is a type of townhouse, Liberton really pushes the boat out. It’s taken more of a chance on design which has come out of the long thin site. We’ve dropped an extra storey down through the central courtyard to get an extra bedroom in, it’s not your usual plan. We kept the stone wall and re-used it. The balcony is partially open to the elements with a kitchen on the ground floor and a huge terrace on the first floor looking over fields. We’ve orientated everything to the rear because of the school. It’s warm enough to sit outside. It’s Larch clad and not treated because we want it to grey, It will weather differently all the way round. It’s hit and miss timber so you’ll get this variation from where the rain and wind hits it. The wall extends all the way round so visually you understand that it’s holding back the earth.”

Planning permission was forthcoming for this scheme but Is Edinburgh’s planning system conducive to good architecture or is it a hindrance? Teague noted: “We look at Edinburgh, this great Georgian and Victorian city but we will be our own period of time in the future. A lot of people who comment on our plans focus on them being in-keeping. People don’t like change.

The planning department is in a vicious cycle at the moment where funding constraints and the budget mean they’re not as well staffed and planners are overworked. A lot have left from stress so when you try to engage with them, they can’t. At the moment timescales are out the window. Statutory timescales of 2-3 months for minor applications are taking up to six months for a minor application. My father was a developer and he was talking about the days of buying a site on the Friday and starting on the Saturday. It took three years for us to acquire > URBAN REALM WINTER 2017 URBANREALM.COM

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This trio of timber townhouses in Liberton have been designed by LBA to take the place of a disused barn

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HULLEY & KIRKWOOD’S 65TH YEAR IN BUSINESS 2018 represents a significant milestone in Hulley & Kirkwood’s history, and, as we enter into our 65th year, we reflect on a selection of our signature projects in Scotland that chart our relatively humble inception in April 1953 to our current status as one of the leading independent M&E Consultants in the UK.

Hulley & Kirkwood remain an owner managed business and continue to excel and deliver award winning projects throughout the UK. Our progressive approach to design, adoption of developing technology and recognition of the key issues that affect the industry ensures we remain at the forefront of our profession.

1960

SIEC Factories

Queen Mother’s Hospital

Linwood Car Plant

Raigmore Hospital

St John’s Hospital

Rutherglen Maternity

University of Strathclyde

SECC

MOD

Falkirk Schools

Hampden Park

Standard Life House

Edinburgh Royal Infirmary

BT Atlantic Quay

Fife Acute Hospital

Quartermile

Glasgow City Campus

AECC

1970

1980

1990

2000

2010

2020

Head Office, Watermark Business Park, 305 Govan Road, Glasgow, G51 2SE Tel: 0141 332 5466 Email: hk.glasgow@hulley.co.uk Web: www.hulley.co.uk

HOME FRONT

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ISA and Glencairn will raise the curtain on this dilapidated Leith cinema

the site and gain planning permission for Woodhall. “ Quizzed as to whether political and economic volatility were scuppering investment Teague continued: “Since I started with Glencairn there’s been constant uncertainty. You almost become immune to it. If there are well designed aspirational homes on the market with (other) standard products then people will come to us.”

Hill acknowledges that there is an emerging Edinburgh ‘style’ of three storey setback, zinc and stone but is Teague impressed or depressed by the general standard of new build architecture in the city? Teague remarked: “In the early 2000’s it was render and then we moved back to stone. It might be down to the planners forcing people to adhere to standard materials. it doesn’t have to be stone though, with complimentary clay brick we can break out a little bit more.”

Is there a dysfunction in the market at the moment with all the money going into student housing and budget hotels, and

comparatively little in terms of residential housing for which there is a desperate need: “I don’t think the student housing developments have done much for the value of the townscape, they can be quite monolithic by building out to the street line”, says Teague. “There’s no parking, amenity, or affordable home restrictions. I think the council have missed a huge trick, they’ve allowed all these student housing developments to go ahead which take up land which historically would have been reserved for residential but they’ve not taken any affordable housing or amenity contributions. Residential developers just can’t compete.”

There are no fast and ready answers to the many crises in housing; from land to design and supply. Any potential solutions therefore are likely to emerge from the bottom up and at relatively small scale. The trick will come in scaling up these approaches and it is here that Glencairn are leading by example.

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DOON THE WATTER CHRIS STEWART

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THE SUCCESS OF DRMM’S STIRLING PRIZE WINNING HASTINGS PIER HAS GIVEN COLLECTIVE ARCHITECTURE’S CHRIS STEWART ALL THE ENCOURAGEMENT HE NEEDS TO SEEK HIS OWN BREATH OF FRESH AIR. HEADING DOWN THE CLYDE COAST TO ASSESS EXCITING PLANS FOR ROTHESAY PAVILION STEWART LOOKS AT WHY WE DO ALL LIKE TO BE BESIDE THE SEASIDE.

© ALEX DE RIJKE

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DOON THE WATTER

Previous page - The future of Hastings Pier hangs in the balance amidst financial difficulties Above - Spot the difference. The rejuvenated pier is unrecognisable URBAN REALM WINTER 2017 URBANREALM.COM

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» The bygone era of UK industrial

leisure has left once glamorous destinations struggling after the public deserted their shores for cheap, reliable sun. «

2017, a rollercoaster year for seaside towns seeking a remedy to their decline. Hastings Pier had remarkably overcome a disastrous history of storm damage, multiple fires and liquidation to enjoy a return to local ownership, a reopening to the public and earn the 2017 Stirling Prize.

The prestigious award was received by dRMM Architects on the 31st October 2017 only to see the Hastings Pier Charity spiral into administration in late November, leaving the future of the pier uncertain. On the the same day as the fortunes of Hastings Pier took a dip, main contractors CBC took possession of Rothesay Pavilion to start work on it’s rejuvenation. It has taken a determined effort by the fine folk of Bute to get this far, what has been their journey and how will they take their opportunity.

The bygone era of UK industrial leisure has left these once glamorous destinations struggling after the public deserted their shores for cheap reliable sun on the continent. Since 2011 when the Office for National Statistics (ONS) an- nounced that deprivation in coastal towns was far worse than the rest of the country with seaside towns where stuck in a cycle of poverty suffering ‘severe social breakdown’, the path to recovery has become a road well travelled. Earli- er one off catalysts did not offer consolation nor a long term solution. The white elephants of national lottery madness such as Irvine Town’s Big Idea will keep Bute’s island feet well on the ground. With a build cost of £15 million, the Big Idea set amongst the sand dunes, lasted just three years closing in September 2003 with debts in the region of £350,000. All employees lost their jobs and the impact is still felt.

There is though serious evidence that culture led regeneration is turning a few South Eastern English beach towns around. Hastings still enjoys the Jerwood Gallery by architects HAT Projects, described by Wallpaper as a perfectly formed, modest space that doesn’t try too hard (their pier will rise once more). Likewise with its parachuted > © ALEX DE RIJKE

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Better, by design

DOON THE WATTER

© MARK DONNELLY

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Rothesay Pavilion has certainly seen better days but its best still lie ahead of it

in Chipperfield Turner Contemporary, Margate is now considered the queen of seaside hip. Co-joined by the Javelin train to Lon- don with its endless supply of beards and pipes, its latest attraction is Wayne Hemingway’s determined effort to bring back Dreamland. For those not in the know, Dreamland is the oldest surviving amusement park in Great Britain and Wayne Hemingway together with his wife Geraldine are the retro design couple who founded Red or Dead; now determined to bring Dreamland back to the liv- ing. Less permanent examples include Banksy’s Dismaland in Weston Super Mare. A family theme park unsuitable for small children with a Jimmy Saville Punch and Judy show, a Cinderella crash scene and the Grim Reaper whoop- ing it up on the dodgems. On the other hand the Weston-super-Mare art deco lido remains closed.

Rothesay for a long while has cast a knowing eye on these goings on and as luck would have it I was fortunate to join a small expedition made by a few of those fine folk of Bute on a field trip to Bexhill and the De La Warr Pavilion. The inspiration for James A Carrick, who designed Rothesay’s own Pavilion in 1938, the refurbishment of the De La Warr Pavilion has been a catalyst for the rejuvenation of Bexhill. Despite its aristocratic veneer, being the

brainchild of the 9th Earl De La Warr, Bexhill’s pavilion is an expression of a modernist social and moral agenda, transformed into an aesthetic philosophy. The Earl de La Warr was chair of the local Labour Party, the first hereditary peer to join the Labour Party and a government minister at 23 . It was therefore no surprise that the winning design was by two architects, Serge Chermayeff a Russian and the other, a refugee from Hilter’s Germany, the better known Erich Mendelsohn.

The De La Warr Pavillion was originally built in 1935 and refurbished in 2005 in the main to improve its fabulous hall but also to build in a flexible art gallery. It now attracts over 350,000 visitors per year and its recent success relies on the theory of Social Capital, the connections, networks and the partnerships which are generated. The core thesis of the social capital theory is ‘relationships mat- ter’ not just the visitors but those who support the Pavilion with a stake in its funding, artistic, commercial and business partnerships.

De la Warr therefore does not stand alone but is part of a broader picture, half the visitors are local. These studies have well informed Rothesay and their own vision.

In the past Rothesy Pavillion has entertained visitors with an array of spectacu- lar shows over the years, >

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Left - Elder & Cannon had the vision to devise a transformative new use for the pavilion Right - Thirties glamour will be retained

currently being documented by YARN on the Rothe- say Pavilion web site ( http://www.rothesaypavilion.co.uk ).

What is less well know is the abundance of local activities undertaken by Rothesay Pavillion which has included weddings, flower and art shows, a basement shooting gallery, tea dances, Beech Grove Question Time and the gathering place for over 40 community groups. In particular since 1956 the Pavilion has been the home of Bute’s right of passage for the island’s youth, both girls and boys, through it’s five a side football tournament. Often given priority over many a touring band who have been forced to play to an audience hemmed in by the pitch.

This pivotal role played by both visitors and residents has informed future activi- ties proposed by the Rothesay Pavilion Charity. The main auditorium will be re- engineered and complimented by a second performance space geared for young people enjoying it’s own separate entrance. New flexible exhibition space will be created to build upon Bute’s reputation as an art destination. A perma- nent cafe will occupy the semi circular bay and enjoy panoramic views of Rothesay Bay. The roof and caretakers house will be URBAN REALM WINTER 2017 URBANREALM.COM

extended to create offices and business start up facilities.

A small shop concentrating on Pavillion mer- chandise avoiding competition with local shops will be located on the ground floor. Most importantly space will be available for all the local community groups including a double quick demountable inflatable football pitch.

This blend of local and visitor activity, looking forward and thoughtful of the past is where the success of Rothesay Pavilion will lie. Funded by its own team of five led by Argyll and Bute Council whose initial investment of over £5 million pounds has attracted crucial players such as the Heritage Lottery Fund bringing a further £4 million. Key conservation funding has been contributed by Historic Environment Scotland and key business funding from the European Regional Development Fund and Highlands & Islands Enterprise. The total funding pack- age amounts to £14 million and to some extent it is the mix of financial input which has helped to bring this heady brew together.

Peter McDonald, Rothesay Pavilion Project Manager, has now been tasked with guiding the funding team to turn the project into reality. Never in isolation with wider

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Bute, the aim has been to encourage visitors to turn right as the disem- bark the ferry and make that short walk to the Pavillion. This will take welcome footfall past the grand sweep of Argyle Street shops to the Pavillion and help regenerate Rothesay promenade. Elder and Cannon Architects will lead the de- sign team supported

by Gardiner & Theobald, Arup Scotland with Sentinel the current Clerk of Works to Glasgow School of Art. The Pavilion closed it’s doors for work in October 2015 and it was only then the true condition of the building could be ascertained through invasive survey. The years had not been kind to this grand lady of the clyde and an initial enabling contract had to be organised. Asbestos hidden in the strangest of places had to be removed, the concrete structure had been eaten away by years of water ingress and each one of the 423 structural hangers supporting the art deco ceil- ings each had to be very carefully repaired.

The ongoing work has attracted a series of hard hat tours where teachers, cyclists and conservationists have been guided through the preparation of the buildings rebirth.

This stage now complete the main contractor CBC will erect

a tent over the building in early 2018 and allow work to commence in earnest.

Rothesay Pavilion has been fortunate both in the determination of those in- volved and their care in considering other similar projects. One of these is in close proximity nearing completion in Rothesay’s sister town Dunoon. The Rothesay Pavilion Charity have been in close conversation with Queens Hall / Dunoon Burgh Hall and the Beacon Arts Centre Greenock to ensure that each destination complements the other. Activities will be coordinated together to bring the Clyde Estuary back into the hearts of Glasgow and further afield. The new Rothesay Pavilion will complete in July 2019 almost exactly 80 years since it originally opened. The aim is to attract 75,000 visitors a year, three times as many prior to its closure and generate 25 new jobs. The Rothesay Pavillion Charity are documenting the work through film, organising events ahead of the new opening and working hard on a programme of events which will bring the best of both local and overseas talent into the Pavilion. I for one can not wait to take that trip back ‘doon the watter’.

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DIRECTORY LISTING 3D VISUALISATION Max Maxwell Tel: +44 (0)141 370 3500 Email: info@maxmaxwell.co.uk Web: www.maxmaxwell.co.uk Studio, 80 Nicholson St, Laurieston, Glasgow G5 9ER ACOUSTIC CONSULTANTS RMP - acoustic consultants Contact: Richard MacKenzie Tel: 0845 062 0000 Email: rmp@napier.ac.uk Website: www.rmp.biz ARCHITECTS JAMstudio Tel: 01467 641670 Email: info@jamstudio.uk.com Web: www.jamstudio.uk.com jmarchitects Tel: 0141 333 3920 Email: gla@jmarchitects.net Web: www.jmarchitects.net John Renshaw Architects Tel: 0131 555 2245 Fax: 0131 555 5526 Email: jr.architects@btconnect.com HLM Architects Tel: 0141 226 8320 Contact: Lorraine Robertson Email: lorraine.robertson@ hlmarchitects.com Web: www.hlmarchitects.com Michael Laird Architects Tel: 01312266991 Fax: 1312262771 Email: marketing@michaellaird.co.uk Website: www.michaellaird.co.uk 5 Forres Street, Edinburgh EH3 6DE ARCHITECTURE & MASTER PLANNING Hypostyle Architects Tel: 0141 204 4441 Contact: Gerry Henaughen Email: glasgow@hypostyle.co.uk Web: www.hypostyle.co.uk

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A MAGAZINE ABOUT THE STREETS IS ON THE STREETS To advertise contact John Hughes on 0141 356 5333 or email jhughes@urbanrealm.com

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Deaconess House, Edinburgh

© Tom Manley Photography

© The Kalyvides Partnership

Bath Street Student Accommodation, Glasgow

Eriboll Street, Glasgow

Candleriggs, Glasgow