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Application form
Please make sure you have read all the notes carefully before you start to fill in the application form. This application form can either be completed by hand or electronically - it is available on the Planning homepage at www.scotland.gov.uk/planning. Please complete all five sections. The deadline for submitting applications is 27 August 2008. An acknowledgement letter will be sent to the person who has completed this form.
1 Please provide a name and contact details of the lead organisation responsible for this work.
Name | Stephen Hajducki |
Job title | Group Leader, Planning and Strategy |
Organisation | City of Edinburgh Council |
Address | Waverley Court, 4 East Market Street, Edinburgh EH8 8BG |
Telephone | 0131-5293922 |
Fax | 0131-5296207 |
Email | stephen.hajducki@edinburgh.co.uk |
2 If this is a joint application, please list the other partners who had a key role. You should also inform your partners that you are nominating the project for an award.
1 The Appleton Partnership | 2 Community Council |
3 | 4 |
5 | 6 |
3 Tick one nomination category
4 Title of entry | Hopetoun Village, Edinburgh |
Please complete the form on the following pages by providing a brief summary of the piece of work you have entered. You must also conclude with a key reason as to why you think this work merits an Award. Only the two A4 pages supplied here can be used and your text must fit within the boxes. The font size should be no less than 12pt.
The judging criteria are set out below. Please tick only the key criteria relevant to your entry:
You must describe how the project relates to the criteria which you have ticked.
Description of project
Hopetoun Village has created, over a number of years, a new vibrant inner-city neighbourhood for 2000+ new residents in a mix of housing types and tenure, plus community facilities such as a park, open space, health centre, nursery, hotel and commercial and retail provision. Its layout re-uses a never-completed Georgian street pattern to create a modern re-interpretation of Edinburgh's classical New Town, with a complementary scale and perimeter-block urban building forms. What sets it apart from the average urban infill is the ground-breaking procurement method through the planning process; from the outset, an innovative application of genuine "community engagement" before the term became fashionable, with a three-way dialogue between the public and private sectors and local residents. |
Describe the background to the project
The site is on the fringes of the centre, where the New Town ran out of steam leaving a Georgian street pattern, a few isolated buildings, and little else. Gradually the area filled with depots, sheds, storage yards and industrial uses of poor townscape quality. Local Plan zoning was for predominantly industrial development but there were no takers. However, its close proximity to the city centre, just off Leith Walk with excellent shops and public transport links, awakened interest from volume house builders. We realised that this could be a very successful area but that we had to get a better housing mix, architectural form and provision of community facilities than straight market forces would provide. A strategy was brokered between local interests, housebuilders and the Council to provide a way forward. |
What are the aims and objectives of the project?
The aims set out what are now established urban village / new urbanist principles: placemaking with a local identity and facilities, reinterpreting traditional urban typologies to give a comfortable feel; new open space provision including a park; encouraging people to live and work in the same area, including working from home; challenging car use, and an early application of sustainable development principles Politically, the aim was to avoid an imposed blueprint, but instead to ensure that as many interests as possible made an input into the final design. The novel Steering Group approach worked well - developers and locals met face to face to discuss their respective requirements and issues, and the eventual developments reflected the input from all parties. |
Over what timescale has the project been developed?
1990 - original study proposing predominantly industrial uses
1994 - trial "blue sky" proposals developed as part of City of Culture bid
1995 - new Redevelopment Strategy based on urban village / sustainable principle IS
1996 - first meeting of Steering Group, with representatives from Council, community council, residents, landowners, and potential developers
1996 - masterplan commissioned, workshops / discussions / surveys undertaken
1997 - first planning approval (Barratts) following the area's urban village principles
1999 - final version of Action Plan (based on master plan) approved by CEC
1997-present - further development by Barratt, Teague, Miller, Bryant and others
2008 - Bryant Homes development wins first & special Homes for Scotland awards |
Explain the process and action taken
The 1995 Area Redevelopment Strategy drew together the various threads and pressures within the area into a single co-ordinated vision. The first priority was to set p the Steering Group. From there, through a series of discussions, workshops, sur\leys and information, ideas, suggestions and information were fed in by all stakeholders. Some aspirations - such as conversion of the bus depot into a centre for t le media arts - fell after the bus company decided not to move. However, other identified objectives were met, including the restoration of the Crescent Gardens, expansion of the local school (including a theatre) as a social and recreational focus; and the provision of a health centre, nursery, business space, and a wide variety of housing from flats and maisonettes to mews and town houses. |
Explain the role of the key partners
Edinburgh District Council / City of Edinburgh Council - planning authority, facilitator, co-ordinator, preparation of action plan
Ian Appleton Partnership - masterplanners
New Town Broughton & Pilrig Community Council
McDonald Area Amenity Society, Gayfield Association - residents' groups
Barratts, Teague Homes - early development partners
Drummond Community High School
Broughton Spurtle - local newsletter, disseminator of information |
What results were achieved?
The process was structured to allow Planning to take a pro-active role, identifying potential sites, encouraging and enabling development and bringing together different interests, who in other situations would probably be in conflict. Through the Steering Group, residents and local interests met directly with developers and their architects; the developers gained an understanding of local issues and wants, the residents an understanding of the development process and its pressures. A sense of place has been achieved; Hopetoun Village is now a recognised city neighbourhood, often described as "prestigious" in property adverts. It took top place in Homes for Scotland's 2008 Quality Awards - "Hopetoun Village pressed all the right buttons. It doesn't just look right, it makes you want to explore" (judges' comments). |
In summary, why does this piece of work merit an Award?
The redevelopment of the area is now almost complete, and demonstrates - an innovative and pioneering approach to achieve genuine community participation in the planning process which has influenced the final outcome
- a proactive role for the planning authority in enabling and delivering development
- a functional sustainable inner-city regeneration which contributes to the city's housing and land-use needs
- creation of a new neighbourhood with a sense of place and identity, a desirable place to live and work
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