In the news, w/e November 3 – Place Design Scotland

A ‘HOUSING emergency’ has been declared by elected members of The City of Edinburgh Council.

In a what is being described as a “first for the city”, councillors agreed to officially declare an emergency today during a full council meeting.

Says a council announcement, here: “It comes as [housing charity] Shelter calls on local authorities to take concerted action across the country, and as homelessness reaches close to 5,000 households a night in the capital despite a huge amount of preventative work by the ‘Third sector’, council and partners.”

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Glasgow ‘affordable’ homes

OVER 7,000 ‘affordable’ homes are to be built in Glasgow over the next five years, following approval by elected members of a budget of £527 million.

The housing – some 7,500 across 185 developments – covers the years 2024/25 – 2028/29.

Says an announcement from the city council (here): “Amongst the priorities for new housing developments delivered through the Strategic Housing Investment Plan [SHIP] is that ten per cent of all new homes in developments of 20 units and above will be wheelchair readily adaptable; and 60 new family-sized homes with three or more bedrooms are built each year.”

In January, elected members identified (here) a target 13,000 new homes in the city by 2028, half of which would be ‘affordable’.

Also in January, the city council announced (here): “It is expected that the SHIP will deliver investment of over £535million that will see almost [‘affordable’] 6,500 new homes built during [2023/24 – 2027/28].”

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Re-imagining your street

IT’S a recent discovery on the part of placedesignscotland, that many readers might be already long familiar with.

But, thanks to a bit of Artificial Intelligence, it is possible to choose a street in Scotland and see how it could be ‘re-imagined’ by removing cars.

The ‘street re-imagination’ involves typing in a street name and hitting a button, and the resulting images often comprise ‘active travel’ (cyclists are permitted), hard landscaping and flower beds.

It’s fun.

The software is a Dutch innovation that can be found, here.

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Passivhaus-standard build begins

WORK has begun on a new school in Edinburgh, which will be constructed to the exacting energy efficiency standard, Passivhaus.

Says The City of Edinburgh Council, here, of a replacement Liberton High School: “The plans for the school, which will have capacity for 1,200 pupils, will consist of a variety of inspirational and inclusive spaces for learning.

“Classrooms, studios, workshops and science labs will connect and work with shared collaborative areas and breakout spaces, providing learners with more personalisation and choice over their learning environment.”

Liberton high School is the fourth passivhaus-standard project in the city’s schools estate, the others being a four-classroom block at Sciennes Primary School (here), Currie High School (here) and Trinity Academy (here).

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Community space a winner

A ‘COMMUNITY space’ that “provides opportunities for children, young people and families to take part in valuable health and wellbeing activities” has been named winner of two prizes at a biennial awards ceremony celebrating architectural and landscape design in Aberdeenshire.

The Vinery has taken the main prize at the awards, but also the category prize, Conservation and building adaptation.