A Tale of Two Edinburghs

New Edinburgh, Canada

Council OKs New Edinburgh townhouse project
PATRICK DARE, Published: Wednesday, April 09, 2008 Ottawa Citizen

Ottawa council approved a townhouse development Wednesday for New Edinburgh that critics fear could be the first of many developments that will be too big for the community.

Council voted to allow demolition of the nondescript house at 132 Stanley Ave. and construction of six three-storey townhouses by Larco Corporation on the lot bounded by Stanley, Queen Victoria Street and River Lane.

David Sacks, president of the New Edinburgh Community Alliance, said the development will be a "bad precedent" for a community that is supposed to be protected as a heritage conservation area. The community association objects to the size of the townhouses, their height and resulting loss of privacy for immediate neighbours, the lack of greenspace and the inclusion of two-car garages in the plans.


Mr. Sacks says a piece of property nearby might also be a candidate for such a development.
Paul McConnell, co-chair of the New Edinburgh Community Alliance heritage and development committee, said the development flies in the face of heritage guidelines and the best advice from the city's heritage experts.

"It's open season," said Mr. McConnell. "There's no credibility in the heritage guidelines anymore."

Elizabeth Jorgensen, a member of the heritage and development committee, said she was "a little stunned" by council's decision to OK the development.

"It's inappropriate. The scale, the design," she said.


The city's heritage advisory committee argued against the project, saying the mass and density of the development "does not fit the streetscape."

But Barry Padolsky, one of Ottawa's best-known architects, supported the development in a written report, saying the new buildings would add to the architecture of the street and would not harm the heritage value of the neighbourhood.
The council vote was 19-1 for demolition of the existing house and 14-6 in favour of the townhouse project.

Sounds like what is happening here in Old Edinburgh, doesn`t it?

To help stop Caltongate in Old Edinburgh heres what to do

Mountgrange Speak

Enemies at Caltongate

Developer Mountgrange is caught up in a wrangle over a new scheme in Edinburgh’s Old Town and faces a sleaze allegation.

Caltongate for conservationists and the local residents group in Edinburgh’s historic Old Town, the name represents a dirty word.

On the one side of an ongoing development feud is Mountgrange, which last month won planning consent for 10 out of 12 elements of a £300m scheme on 6.5 acres near the Scottish capital’s Royal Mile.

The company, established by Trillium founder Manish Chande in 2002, is on target to provide a new luxury hotel, 205 homes – 42 of which will be affordable housing around 250,000 sq ft of offices and a retail square at the New Street site near the city’s historic Royal Mile.
On the other side are local campaigners, who object to the demolition of two listed buildings.

On top of this a recent investigation by The Times has the pulled the developer into a sleaze row after it was revealed it donated £4,000 to a champagne reception hosted by the Labour party, weeks before a vital stage of planning consent was granted (see below).

Mountgrange, which is based in London’s Mayfair, insists it has strained every sinew to make everyone happy. But on a regeneration scheme of this size, something has to give.
‘A lot of the complaints have come from the heritage bodies and people in the local community, but they don’t come up with an alternative,’ says Mountgrange property director Nick Berry. (This is a lie, see the community`s alternative which they came up with in Feb 2006)

‘We have jumped through every hoop the planners wanted us to.
’We have had large debates with Historic Scotland, which is largely now on side with what we are doing. We have consulted for four years we have bent over backwards.’ LIE! First Caltongate Masterplan shown in October 2005

Cosy with council
However, the company has been criticised for its closeness to Edinburgh City Council, which was, until recently, controlled by the Scottish Labour Party. It emerged that a gala business event, attended by Tony Blair and organised by the Scottish Labour Party, was given £4,000 by Mountgrange. The event took place in February 2007, weeks before the Labour-run city council granted Mountgrange permission to start work on site.

Mountgrange’s decision to sponsor the event has been called ‘unwise’ by Margo MacDonald, the independent MSP for the Lothians.

‘The thing that bothers me is that they’ve had 2,000 objections to this scheme,’ she tells Property Week. ‘It is not just desirable but imperative that the plans are gone over with a fine-tooth comb and are really subject to the utmost scrutiny.
‘Labour used to have such a hold over Scottish politics that it was accepted that contractors would cosy up with them. But since the political shake-up, people are more aware about what has been going on.
MacDonald has asked the Scottish parliament to call the plans in and says she cannot see how the scheme will avoid that happening.

But Berry says the donation was simply a part of Mountgrange’s strategy to establish itself among the business community in Scotland.
‘Like everyone else, we do these kind of things,’ he says. ‘We have a large business here and we are keen to show we’re not just a London-based company.
‘This was just an occasion when Tony Blair happened to be speaking in Glasgow – we were sponsoring the reception to a business dinner.’


“It is imperative that the plans are subject to the utmost scrutiny”
Margo MAcdonald, MSP

The firm also sponsored the cow parade in Edinburgh, when life-size painted cows were positioned around the capital to invite people to explore their home city. (On every cow they sponsored, Mountgrange had their name on a plaque! How convenient)

The scheme will have to go before the Scottish parliament in any event, as the city council has a stake in the scheme. Mountgrange bought some council-owned land around the site it owned, a former bus garage, which was due to be developed. The council will receive a small share of the profits from the site. ‘It was done to make sure the council didn’t sell us short,’ says Berry. ‘It only has a passive involvement.’

In October, eyebrows were also raised over the appointment of Donald Anderson, former council leader, as Scottish director of PPS, the public relations agency that is promoting Caltongate on behalf of Mountgrange.

The most controversial element of the scheme is a five-star Sofitel at the centre of the scheme. Two listed buildings are being demolished to make way for the 210-bed hotel, which will have the city’s largest conference facilities outside the Edinburgh International Conference Centre.
Edinburgh World Heritage says the replacement of the Sailor’s Ark building and former Canongate School with the proposed buildings will ‘in no way conserve or enhance the established character’ of the area.

‘You have to have sympathy with the campaigners,’ says Mountgrange’s Berry. (I bet you do!)
‘It is very difficult and very challenging to take down any listed building and rightly so.
‘But I think it is inevitable, to achieve a successful regeneration of this area. The reason is that the hotel is going to act as an anchor for the scheme. It is something that is going to be available to businesses, tourists and locals.’ ( ah now for locals Nick, does that mean prostitution or washing dishes?)

Old town, new quarter (the word quarter is not used in Scotland to describe areas of towns or cities, like Caltongate it is developer speak)

Berry insists the scheme is needed to regenerate the area, and that changes have to be made to some of the older buildings to gel the scheme into its surroundings. ( changes he means get rid of them!)
see rest of article here By David Doyle Property Week

Tables and Chairs Wanted

With the Community Research programme due to start at the beginning of May in the Community Shop, 8 St Marys Street, just off the Canongate...donations of stackable/foldable chairs and foldable tables are required.



As there will be talks, film screenings, groups meeting and so on, they will all need somewhere to rest their bottoms...If you wish to lend us some, thats fine too

Email the Forum with details.


Details of the programme will appear soon on the blog and www.eh8.org.uk

No, No ,No to Gherkin

Towering folly

If I'd read your report on Henderson Global Investors' plan to create Edinburgh's own 'Gherkin' tower (2 April) a day earlier, I'd have assumed it was an April Fool's joke.
Of all the preposterous architectural schemes mooted for the city in the past few months (Caltongate, for example) this one really takes the biscuit. Granted, the St James Centre is an eyesore, but to replace it with another one would be an act of extreme folly. To quote a recent Amy Winehouse hit: "No, no, no."

Martin Hetherington Scotsman Letters

"Caltongate" Calamity

This article appears in the Spring Newsletter of ICOMOS UK (not available on line as yet)

Written by Conservation Architect, James Simpson OBE

Edinburgh Old and New Towns World Heritage site:

“Caltongate” Calamity

On 6th February, the Edinburgh City Council was minded to approve major elements of the “Caltongate” re-development scheme, in the face of massive opposition from the Edinburgh World Heritage Trust and others, including a specially formed Canongate Community Forum which, through an effective web-site, has mobilised community support to keep homes for locals in the heart of the Old Town.

The “Caltongate” Site extends to 3.46ha on the North side of the Canongate, between Waverley Station and Holyrood, highly visible from the Calton Hill. The whole site is within the Old and New Towns of Edinburgh World Heritage Site, inscribed in 1995. The plans commended by Councillors include a new five-star hotel, conference centre, houses and offices in the Old Town. It would involve the demolition of one listed building, all but the frontage of a second, and several tenanted houses.

Proposals to reduce 1930s stone-fronted tenements facing the Canongate were put on hold, with the developers, Mountgrange, being asked to look at ways of retaining the buildings for affordable housing. The Councillors’ decision will now be considered by Scottish Ministers.

ICOMOS-UK objected to the development, not on the grounds that the main part of the site - the former New Street bus garage - should not be developed, but because of the disastrous and unnecessary enlargement of the site to include adjacent land and buildings owned by the City Council, the disruption of the topography of the North side of the Old Town ridge, the unnecessary and unjustified demolition of listed and unlisted buildings in the Conservation Area, and for the sheer unattractiveness and inappropriateness of the proposals. As one resident put it ‘YES the bus garage site needs to be developed, but NO this is not the correct scheme and it will jar with everything else around it ....’.

The Old and New Towns were inscribed on the World Heritage list for their remarkable juxtaposition of two clearly articulated urban planning phenomena: the ‘herringbone’ burgh of the early Middle Ages, set on the tail of the crag, and the regular layout of the Enlightenment New Town, laid out on the high ground to the North. The harmonious relationship between these two contrasting historic towns, set astride what Sir Bernard Feilden has called the ‘great arena’ of Sir Walter Scott’s Waverley valley, each with many important buildings, is what gives Edinburgh its unique character.


The burgage plots of the Canongate, founded as an ‘abbatial burgh’ dependent on the Abbey of Holyrood, were typically small and it is this pattern which gave the area its essential character and grain. Where this scale and grain has been respected, as in the development master-planned by John Hope to the South of the Canongate, the result is widely admired.

By contrast, the proposals for “Caltongate” - an entirely spurious name, incidentally - are overlarge and have ‘footprints’ which are large in relation to their height - quite the opposite of the successful Canongate South scheme - where some blocks are even higher than the maximum height indicated in the Master Plan for the area. They are also, by general consensus, architecturally undistinguished and out of place in the Old Town.

The “Caltongate” development as it stands will have a profoundly negative impact on the values of the World Heritage Site: it is also a missed opportunity to show that, if the fundamentals of size, scale and grain are got right, new development, however brave architecturally, can be successfully integrated with urban landscapes of international value. Edinburgh was for many years been seen as a trailblazer for urban conservation, commended for its far-sighted town planning policies initiated by Patrick Geddes - the father of town planning and of urban conservation - which had allowed the city’s skyline and urban spaces to evolve but maintain their significance over time.

“Caltongate” is symptomatic of a new trend towards development of extensive areas of cites as single projects - reminiscent, alas, of the Comprehensive Development Areas of the 1960s. Bath Western Riverside, a large, highly contentious scheme in the centre of the Bath World Heritage Site, is another. It extends to 35ha and thus occupies the same footprint as the Royal Crescent, the Circus, Queen’s Square, connecting streets, and some land to the south-west of these three great urban spaces, all combined. In Liverpool, Peel Holdings are floating plans for high-rise buildings, including 23,000 homes, along swathes of the land either side of the Mersey which would transform Liverpool in to a mini Shanghai.

All these projects raise the issue of how planning and redevelopment at this scale can respect the urban grain or sense of place in cities which have been recognised as having attributes marking them out as being of world significance. How should we define what is needed? As with so much else, Patrick Geddes’ principle of ‘conservative surgery’ puts the proper approach to the improvement of old cities in a nutshell. Geddes’ principles were followed to the South of the Canongate; not alas at “Caltongate”.

James Simpson gives the views of a long-standing Edinburgh resident on “Caltongate”:

Edinburgh is under greater threat than it has been since the 1960s. Everything about the “Caltongate” proposal is wrong:

· even more than the unlovable new City offices in Market Street, it intrudes into the Waverley valley and its podium disrupts the topography of the Old Town.

· the sheer size of the project cuts across all the principles of urban conservation, first expounded by Patrick Geddes. The New Street bus garage site was already large; it should not have been enlarged further.

· the traditional scale and 'grain' of the Canongate are ignored.

· the demolition of a stone tenement, part of the Canongate street frontage, and of Listed Buildings, including one owned by the City Council, should be unthinkable.

· the very name “Caltongate” is, in its meaninglessness, an insult to the intangible heritage of this most intellectual of cities!

· the process through the planning system has been tortuous and exhausting for all concerned.

The suggestion that this particular development, and others like it, are essential for the wellbeing of the City is, frankly, bizarre. It is surely self-evident that it is the sheer quality and consistency of Edinburgh in architectural and planning terms, which are the foundations of Edinburgh's greatness. The recent succession of overlarge and inappropriate developments, of which “Caltongate” is currently the most important, are undermining those foundations.

Change is essential, and conservation is often said to be the management of change. If the “Caltongate” project is stopped in its tracks, then work can begin again in earnest on defining the sort of change which Edinburgh needs. This project must be stopped.

See yesterday`s post on what YOU can do to stop this project

Allan "The Gherkin" Murray

There is no stopping our wee man fae Glenrothes the ubiquitous Allan Murray... Allan Murray

Not content with Caltongate, George IV Bridge, "SOCO"

the Cowgate Fire site, the obliteration of the last piece of green at the top of Leith Street now he`s planning a Gherkin for the St James Centre revamp! Full Horror Here

He`s even sending models out on to the streets of the capital to gain support.

Is there no stopping this crusade of his...why is he getting all the jobs, are there facts that have yet to be unearthed?

Can he be stopped before it is too late for the city...

Perhaps we should be calling on to rid the city of this for once and for all.

Until our superheros arrive this is the man who could prove himself to be a hero, John Swinney Minister for Finance and Sustainable Growth, see below how to let him know the city is in danger, and Caltongate needs a Public Inquiry

To Stop Caltongate individuals and organisations need to Act Now

All Planning Applications have been passed (last one Weds 5th March 08)

They are now presented to ministers.

You do not have to live in Edinburgh to show your concerns and that Caltongate should be stopped.

Write, using the following guiding points as well as your own in all letters to the following individuals and organisations.It is understood that all the Caltongate Planning Applications must be sent to ministers under the Notification of Applications procedures for a number of reasons -

1. The council has a significant financial interest in the proposed applications and stands to receive financial payment on the delivery of planning consent.

2. The proposals ( in particular the demolition of structurally sound, in use buildings, both listed and unlisted in an Outstanding Conservation Area and World Heritage Site) conflict with key policies contained in the approved Structure and Local Plans and as such is a significant departure from the Development Plan.

3. There have been a significant level of objections received from community organisations and heritage groups in addition to the numerous individuals.

4. New legislation, policies, planning guidance is at a crucial stage and the proposals could set a dangerous precedent which would prejudice the effectiveness of these new policies.

5. The Caltongate Masterplan has been imbedded in the Finalised Local Plan for the area which has provoked many objections which have been requested to be heard at a LPI. The protection of listed and unlisted buildings, reference to the World Heritage Site, protection of housing and has yet to be tested through the Development Plan process.

6. The consultation process has been heavily critisised as not being inclusive, balanced or transparent and conflicts with new government guidance on growing community assets, partnership working, and community engagement.

7. The site lies in an area with international importance, a World Heritage Site.

8. This is a crucial time to send out the right message to developers.

9. The claimed economic benefits of the scheme could equally be made for a far more appropriate scheme, retaining homes and listed buildings, and with a far less detrimental impact on the WHS.

10. More Points Here to add to your letters

PEOPLE AND ORGANISATIONS TO WRITE TO

1. Write to the following Scottish Ministers urging them that Caltongate be called in and determination sought through a public inquiry

Cabinet Secretary John Swinney Minister for - Finance & Sustainable Growth

Linda Fabiani - Minister for Europe, External Affairs Affairs & Culture

More on their responsibilities here Scottish Government

you can email them at this address marking your letters for the attention of each individual minister scottish.ministers@scotland.gsi.gov.uk

Write to them at St Andrew`s House, Regent Road, Edinburgh, EH1 3DG

2. You should also write to your constituency and regional MSPs find them here MSP FINDER by your postcode urging them that Caltongate should be called in and a Public Inquiry held.

3. You can also write to your MP and MEPS Find MP and MEPS (Scottish ones are listed even although it doesn’t say on home page, you just enter your postcode and they will appear)

4. You could also write to your local councillor(s) (although yours may be one of the planning committee that voted the plans through on the 6th Feb! (check here) asking them to write to The Scottish Government to press for for call in and determination through the Public Inquiry System.All councillors emails or write to them C/O The City of Edinburgh Council, City Chambers, High Street, Edinburgh, EH1 1YJFind your councillorsAmong points you could make are the following, do add your own and include any material you feel important, especially if you think it hasn`t been considered, and do let others know they can do this too.

5. You should also write to ICOMOS UK as its ICOMOS who advises UNESCO International Council on Monuments & Sites UK, 70 Cowcross Street, London, EC1M 6EJ Email mail@icomos-uk.org

6. You should also inform UNESCO The List of World Heritage in Danger is designed to inform the international community of conditions which threaten the very characteristics for which a property was inscribed on the World Heritage List, and to encourage corrective action.Edinburgh`s Inscription Edinburgh World Heritage Trust

See Latest on Bath at Risk

Private individuals, non-governmental organizations, or other groups can draw the World Heritage Committee's attention to existing threats. If the alert is justified and the problem serious enough, the Committee may consider including the site on the List of World Heritage in Danger.

To inform the World Heritage Committee about threats to sites, Committee's Secretariat at:
E-mail: wh-info@unesco.orgWorld Heritage CentreUNESCO7, place de Fontenoy75352, Paris, 07 SPFrance
see http://www.eh8.org.uk/ for more

Caltongate the Movie?

Its an exciting time here in the Canongate. The campaign has been approached by a world famous film director who is setting their next film here in Scotland. Its caught their attention that Scotland, although it has its first SNP led government and has its eyes on independence, all is not well across the country.

All we are allowed to say at present is that the Save Our Old Town Campaign and the battle against Trump will be the main story lines. Other campaigns around the country will feature too.

It will be a 21st century Local Hero , but harder hitting with the power of big business, corruption in local and national politics and the Scottish people fighting for their rightful inheritance among the themes.

Watch this space....