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Lochee: Local Context Location of the area

Historical Background The name Lochee means ‘eye of Loch’ as the village was located in the valley east of Loch Balgay. th The first records of Lochee date back to 12th century. Prior to 18 century the area consisted mainly of the cottage industry. In the 19th century Lochee became a part of growing City of Dundee (figure th 2, 3, 4). Lochee has developed as a separate town with handloom weaving in 18 century and in the th 19 century as a textile industries centre. Two important periods of the development of the town are th the 15 century when Loch Balgay was drained and settling in of the Cox Family, the merchant manufacturers, in 1700, followed by the wave of Irish immigration (Groome, 1901).

The Cox Family has contributed greatly to the formation of the Lochee or "Locheefield" . One of the gifts of the Cox family to Lochee was the Lochee Park which was used for athletic sports and open air exercises by the youth of the West End. The Public Library, Reading Room, and Baths and Swimming Pond at Lochee were also built due to the generosity of the family. The Cox family has also supported the St. Luke's and Lochee Parish Churches (Miller, 1909).

Figure 1. Location of the Lochee area in Dundee

Case Study In order to develop a better understanding of the Design Codes use and role in planned city regeneration, a case study of Borough of Poole was examined.

The relevant similarities to Lochee were identified as following: emphasis on the infrastructure improvements and city centre regeneration as leading principles.

Planning Context The Dundee Local Plan Review 2005, Policy 38, 39,40.

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The Lochee Physical Regeneration Framework is a long-term development strategy.

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The Proposed Lochee Conservation Area Appraisal is intended to assist and guide the regeneration framework

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Crown copyrightdatabase right2010 An OrdinanceSurveyEDINA supplied service

Source: Lochee Regeneration Framework, Dundee City Council, 2008.

The site is located in the west of the Dundee Inner City/ Suburban boundary, on the south of Harefield Road and stretches along the Coupar-Angus Road (figure 1).

Figure 3. Lochee in 1891-1912

The Lochee Community Plan 2008-2011 produced by the Lochee Community Planning Partnership

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A Design Code for Borough of Poole was not restrictive in its nature, moreover, it advocated for contemporary design rather than a copy of past styles.

Figure 2. Lochee in 1843 - 1893

The Lochee project was awarded £2,000,000 from Town Centre Regeneration Fund, used for public realm improvements and for Façade Enhancement Grant Scheme

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It has identified the factors combining good design (i.e. specific site qualities, awareness of surrounding development and context); and Figure 4. Lochee in 1919-1939 proposed a number of design guidance for two main areas: layout and form, and new Aspirations of the local communities developments (figure 6)((Borough of Poole Strategic Planning Service, 2001).

Main views and aspirations were announced by the Lochee Community Planning Partnership as following: It has been found that the guidance has Dealing with anti-social behaviour provided a necessary support for the Undertake physical regeneration of the High Street regeneration project ensuring the Upgrade and improve open space achievement of a good quality environment. It Diversify activities available on High Street, provide more recreational has allowed a positive experience of the area, and leisure facilities. attracting investment and creating a sustainable base for further investments.

Figure 2,3,4. Source: Planning and Transportation Department, 2008

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Figure 5. Design Code example Source: A Design Code, 2001, Borough of Poole.

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Jekaterina Dmitrijeva

Matriculation number: 080008478

Lochee High Street: Urban Structure Land Use and Social Characteristics

Traffic

High Street and the adjoining area represent Dundee’s District shopping centre and the main employment opportunities. The predominant land use is retail on the ground floors with residential on the upper floors.

High Street is occupied predominantly by services, represented by the library, health service and banks; and retail, which consist of the small retail units and larger retail centres, where the former dominate.

Substantial part of High Street is located in the area characterized by 10 to 14% most deprived according to the Index of Multiple Deprivation (Planning and Transportation Department, 2007).

The latest census data has shown that the majority of local residents are in the age interval of 30-59 years old, with only 5.47% of residents being in the age group of 0-4. The proportion of male and female is almost equal. There is also a high rate – 8.57% of economically active unemployed people in comparison to the Scotland’s average (Scotland's Census, 2001). Generally, there is a population loss tendency in the area (Planning and Transportation Department, 2007) .

Services Commercial Opportunity vacant sites Residential Mixed residential/commercial

Architecture and Listed Buildings The buildings on the High Street range between one and four storeys. There is a big proportion of traditional sandstone buildings of Victorian and some of Baronial architectural styles (Figure 7,8). Significant part of the buildings was built in the last few decades from brick or timber panels and roughcast render in modernist ideas. There is also an example of art deco style (Figure 9).

Significant visual impact is created by numerous shop fronts which vary greatly in size, materials, design, from traditional to modern (Figure 9).

High Street is rather enclosed due to the height of the buildings and its layout, but there are some views which bring in more character, namely: Balgay Hill (Figure 10). to the South (hidden by health centre), Cox’s Stack to the East (Figure 11) , as well as modern high rise residential blocks to the East and West of the High Street.

A Listed Buildings

B Listed Buildings

C Listed Buildings

Conservation area

Building Heights

Pedestrian movement Vehicle movement Conflict points Lack of natural surveillance

There is an evident shallow North to South sloping of the High Street. The street pattern in the Lochee area has retained the majority of the layout from 19th century with the High Street being the main transportation corridor served by the narrower streets and lanes (Planning and Transportation Department, 2008). There is a frequent bus service connecting the area with the rest of Dundee. The High Street has been a subject to Lochee Regeneration Framework improvements with the redevelopments of zebra crossings and traffic lights, introduction of sleeping policemen, speed bumps, pavement built outs and roundabouts. With all of the redevelopments it has been found that there are still some issues needed to be addressed: •

Unofficial pedestrian crossing points

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Illegal parking issues

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Congestion

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Conflict between pedestrian and vehicular traffic

1 Storey 2 Storey 3 Storey 4 Storey Fig. 7

Fig. 10

Fig. 8

Fig. 11

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Fig. 10 2

Poor pedestrian access between Lochee Bypass and the High Street Available parking not being used to its full potential

Source: Planning and Transportation Department, 2008

Jekaterina Dmitrijeva

Matriculation number: 080008478

Lochee High Street: Design Strategy Starting point: identification of constraints and opportunities Opportunities

Constraints • • • • •

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Inadequate access to the High Street Unappealing access routes lacking natural surveillance Unofficial pedestrian crossings Inadequate parking (e.g. taxi pick up lines) Evidence of confusion over existing routes hierarchy and traffic signs Vacant shop units, limited retail unit sizes on the High Street Poor condition of the existing external fabric of the buildings Disorganised garbage collection points Lack of office space, which prevent attracting businesses Limited cultural experiences available (Department of Planning and Transportation, 2006) Negative public perception of the area

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Versus

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Improve access between Lochee Bypass and High Street Create a better link between the Stack Leisure Park and the High Street Provide more variety by redeveloping Stack Leisure Park Improve legibility of the area Enhance public realm Improve safety through introduction of natural surveillance Attract businesses and redevelop vacant sites with emphasis on greater balance of land uses Improve the appearance of existing dwellings and introduce more housing varieties Reconfigure selected unsuitable retail units Promote the history of Lochee using the unique environment and architecture of the site Balance the land uses and therefore enhance cultural and evening activities in the area Continue improving the facades and shop fronts Promote Lochee High Street as regenerated distinctive and safe environment.

Phasing the regeneration process

Pedestrian movement Vehicular movement

First phase Second phase Third phase

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Façade enhancement

Health and community centre Leisure and residential Parking space Park area—green space Pond (Sustainable land drainage)

Phase four redevelopment of the existing opportunity site for residential or residential mixed use, to ensure availability of varied accommodation for potential and expected population growth.

Improvement of the safety of the High Street access.

Pedestrian movement

Phase two - creation of the new open public green space and relocation of the health centre. New open space in seen to benefit from views of existing historic buildings and will allow opening up of the view on Balgay Hill from the High street.

Introduction of new pedestrian links to High street. Suggested redevelopment of the surrounding commercial premises into leisure facilities to diversify available social activities.

Leisure/commercial development

Fifth phase

Office space

Existing buildings

Phase one - linking the High Street with the Couper-Angus bypass, introducing two way traffic to the North of the new link. Addressing the lack of natural surveillance in the adjoining access routes.

Forth phase

In order to avoid compromising the day-to-day functioning of the High Street the regeneration might be undertaken in phases.

Minor works might be done in multiple phases simultaneously, but major redevelopments are seen to be more successful when completed in phases.

Residential development

Phase three - continuous enhancement of shop facades and improvements into existing deteriorating urban fabric. Introduction of the office space.

Phase five - redevelopment of the Stack Leisure Park with the emphasis on large scale retail and leisure provision. This phase can be undertaken along with any of the other ones. Available space is also seen as a potential one for accommodating the largest concentration of parking spaces to support the introduced changes to the High Street and allow for more redevelopment space .

Jekaterina Dmitrijeva

Matriculation number: 080008478

Lochee High Street: Design Code The suggested design codes are aimed to raise the standard of development by encouraging investors and developers to explore and respect the local urban context rather than to prescribe architectural style.

High Street Transect Diagram

Incidental Urban Spaces

Public lighting

Source: Baltimore, 2010.

Sustainably enhancing existing public space and bringing more diversity into social activities.

Community and Health Centre

Source: magazine enlighter, 2010.

The Neighbourhood Edge zone is the least dense and predominantly residential in land use. Maximum building height - 3 storey.

The Neighbourhood General is the zone of mixed function.

The zone is a secondary employment zone with the potential redevelopment of the Stack Leisure park. Current focus is on a balanced mix of residential, service and office spaces, with the major provision of parking for the High Street. Maximum building height - 4 storey.

The High Street Centre is the most dense multifunctional zone with primary focus on relocated Health Centre and commercial premises. This zone also supports the parking provision for the newly created amenities. It is a primary employment sector.

Maximum building height - 4 storey; preferred - 2 storey.

The community centre is the semi dense zone with the largest concentration of community facilities (library, community centre, school, church, swimming pool, leisure developments) and newly incorporated green space with the sustainable urban drainage system.

Preferred building height - 2 storey.

Source: City of Sidney, 2010.

Source: Flickr, 2010.

Source: UK groundwater forum, 2010

New urban form that encourages residents to create social bonds. High quality new amenity is to allow revitalisation of High Street, change in the perception of the area and enhancing surrounding baronial buildings.

Motion responsive light installations.

Retail Retail unit faรงade enhancement; and repairing the existing urban fabric.

Encouraging variety of architectural styles

Source: York 360, 2010.

References: Borough of Poole Strategic Planning Service. (2001). A design code. Poole: Borough of Poole Civic Centre.

Department of Planning and Transportation. (2006). Lochee District Centre Consultation. Retrieved October 2, 2010, from Dundee City Council: http://www.dundeecity.gov.uk/lochee.yourviews/pdfs/locheequest.pdf Groome, F. (1901). Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland Edinburgh: T.C. & E.C. Jack. Retrieved October 8, 2010, from SCRAN Royal Comission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland: http://www.scran.ac.uk/database/record.php?usi=000-000-563-949C&searchdb=scran&scache=257sxcxfbx Miller, T. (1909). Dundee past and present. William Kidd & Sons.

Planning and Transportation Department. (2007). Lochee Physical Regeneration Framework. Retrieved October 2, 2010, from Dundee City Council: http://www.dundeecity.gov.uk/dundeecity/search_page.php?q=lochee+regeneration&access=p&entqr=0&ud=1&sort=date%3AD% 3AL%3Ad1&output=xml_no_dtd&output=xml_no_dtd&oe=UTF-8&ie=UTF8&client=dcc_frontend_integrated&proxystylesheet=dcc_frontend_integrated&proxyre Planning and Transportation Department. (2008). Proposed Lochee Conservation Area Appraisal. Dundee: Dundee City Council.

Scotland's Census. (2001). SCROL Scotland's Census. Retrieved October 10, 2010, from SCROL Scotland's Census Results online: http:// www.scrol.gov.uk/scrol/browser/profile.jsp?profile=Employment&mainArea=DD2+3BZ&mainLevel=Postcode

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Jekaterina Dmitrijeva

Matriculation number: 080008478