New Major City Centre Development
We are delighted to announce that the Practice has won a major commission for a mixed use inner city site at Justice Mill Lane in Aberdeen for Hazledene Properties Limited. The £40 million project consists of approximately 125 residential units, a considerable amount of office accommodation and a 148-bed four star hotel. The competition was amongst top Scottish architects (and one Dane) so we are particularly pleased to have been selected. It represents a major development for the office both in terms of size, complexity and composition. We are anticipating a planning application being submitted in October of this year.
Our competition drawing is illustrated and the scheme is in course of development.
Two University Shortlists
Nine years after our close shave in a competition for student residences at Jesus College Cambridge, (we came an extremely close second on that occasion), we are pleased that the College have selected us for a shortlist leading to a competition selection for an auditorium, hotel and sports complex development.
Dundee University have also shortlisted us for a postgraduate study centre near the historic Geddes Quad near the centre of their campus.
Three Projects Restarted
Our project to extend the Kirkintilloch Adult Learning Centre, after being stalled for some time, has now restarted, with an expected start on site in early 2007.
Our housing project at Newhall, Harlow has now started on site and is due for completion in July 2008.
In addition, the third phase of our work at Cramond for AMA (New Town) Limited, being the construction of thirty two flats, has recommenced, with a view to starting on site in February 2007.
Quartermile Social Housing
After considerable discussion with Edinburgh City Council Planning Department, we have submitted amended designs for 170 flats, nursery school and other office accommodation on the Chalmers Street site at Quartermile in the ex-Royal Infirmary, Edinburgh. New drawings can be seen on the website.
Competition Submission
Our invited submission for the competition for the reuse of spinning mills in the City of Veijle, Denmark was submitted in July. As this is an anonymous competition, we will be unable to publish the drawings until the next newsletter.
Doors Open Day
The annual Edinburgh ‘Doors Open Day’ on 30 September 2006 will feature four buildings by our practice - our own office; The Breakfast Mission, Maggie's Centre at the Western General Hospital, Harmeny School at Balerno, and newcomer, our Housing at Cramond.
Press
Richard appeared in The Independent’s Property Section on 5 July under their regular feature "My Home". Under the title “Architect of his own Fortune”, Richard describes his own home at Regent Terrace Mews.
And in the same vein, in the Sunday Herald Magazine, the home of Linda Green, our colour consultant and close friend of the practice, was featured in their Homes section.
Homes and Interiors Scotland asked Richard to contribute to their regular feature “Design & Architecture - I Love This…..” describing his favourite building. Richard chose Udny Castle in Aberdeenshire saying that it was “…. the most perfect example of its genre” and that “Its magnificent isolation emphasises its structural presence and, at the same time, gives it a jewel like quality in the landscape”. The article appeared in the magazine’s July edition.
Our private residential mews property at Circus Lane in the New Town of Edinburgh was published in Home & Renovating Magazine in July. Titled - “Mews Modernity” the story of the building of this “… contemporary mews style house on an awkward city centre plot”, with the background of two unsuccessful planning applications and an appeal to the Scottish Executive, before consent was finally achieved, was described by the our Client, Mr Brian Knox.
Harmeny School, a project completed in 2000 was profiled in School Building Magazine in July.
Lastly, Prospect Magazine in its Summer edition celebrated our success at the Scottish Design Awards with a feature on Richard (voted Architect of the Year) and the two schemes which won Awards - Galeri Caernarfon, North Wales and Housing at Dean Bank Lane, Edinburgh.
Lectures
Richard has an extensive Autumn programme of lectures.
These include - a lecture tour of South Africa at the end of this month where he will be speaking to Johannesburg University, Cape Town University and the Biennial Conference of the South African Architects’ Association in Bloemfontein; leading a Scarpa tour in Venice for the RIBA Conference in October; contributing a lecture on Scarpa at the ‘Budapest Architecture Month’ event at the beginning of October; and lastly, lecturing in Venice once again, on the topic of Scarpa in November, this time to the Royal Institute of Architects in Ireland, who are holding their Annual Conference there this year.
And Finally......
We are looking forward with great excitement to Sir Sean Connery’s second visit to the office to look at the revised model and plans of the new proposed Filmhouse, currently proposed for Festival Square, Edinburgh.