Urban Realm summer 2020

VOL10 ISSUE42 SUMMER 2020

FR AM E OF RE F ERENCE: LOCKDOWN VIEWS SUSTAINABILITY NEIGHBOURHOOD LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE

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I F TO AN ES

Lockdown has changed the way we view everything from work to relationships but its long-term impact on the way we interact with the built environment is only just becoming apparent.

In this issue, we explore these developing lines of thought with a series of articles looking at how our world is changing, from redefining the meaning of neighbourhood (pg 12), to uprooting established norms in landscape architecture (pg 32).

host towns of Fraserburgh and Ardrishaig through public services and tourism.

When all is said and done current priorities will necessarily shift back to longer-term concerns, the biggest of which is climate change. We look at recent strides taken in retrofitting social housing (pg 54) around Europe for an energy-conscious age.

Key to surmounting these challenges will be communication, an art many still struggle with, as we find out in our To round thing off we invite ten leading exploration of the usage of computer architects to share their views about aided design (pg 46) as a planning tool. where we are headed and what the world Is better presentation a prerequisite for may look like on the other side (pg 76), improved standards? with some interesting results.

Amid the fog of uncertainty, I hope Into this new reality, several new projects Urban Realm can clear the air to make find themselves on the forefront of sense of a fast-changing world. restart initiatives; namely the Faithlie Centre (pg 21) and The Egg Shed (pg 26) John Glenday, editor which seek to revitalise their respective

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CONT ENTS QUARTERLY DIGEST 12 NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH 21 THE FAITHLIE CENTRE 26 THE EGG SHED 32 LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE 46 COMPUTER AIDED DESIGN 54 SUSTAINABLE CONSTRUCTION 60 MATERIALS SCIENCE 68 LINOCUTS 76 LOCKDOWN VIEWS 90 EGYPTIAN HALLS 96 DIRECTORY 97 PRODUCTS 04

Cover image: The Faithlie Centre, Fraserburgh, photography by Simon Kennedy

OUR EDITORIAL PANEL INCLUDES:

John Glenday

Mark Chalmers, architecture writer and photographer

Leslie Howson, director Urban Design

Thea McMillan, director, Chambers McMillan

Jonathan Reeve, architect, Voigt Partnership

Keri Monaghan, architect, Stallan-Brand

Alistair Scott, director, Smith Scott Mullan

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Q U A R T E R L Y D I G E S T A P R

AIR RIGHTS A significant expansion of Glasgow’s Buchanan Galleries shopping centre is again on the cards with the submission of updated pre-crisis plans for a major mixed office and retail development by Michael Laird Architects and Landsec.

BRIEFS Incorporating a new subway entrance from Dundas Square the build will deliver a complex engineering solution devised by Arup to retain ventilation when decking over the railway line.

A £2m community centre in Greenock is poised to break ground following receipt of planning permission from Inverclyde Council.

Craigend Resource Centre will provide a direct replacement for outdated existing facilities in response to the evolving needs of the community and is the product of seven years of design development at the hands of INCH Architecture + Design.

Plans to overhaul a 2.9-hectare site at the foot of Leith Walk, Edinburgh, have been radically reimagined by Drum Property Group and Halliday Fraser Munro in response to public feedback.

Stead’s Place had been earmarked for a major studentresidential led redevelopment, but a change of heart will now see the existing sandstone building retained and refurbished instead to provide a mix of commercial uses.

NOT A DRILL

FLOOD PROOF

A former Territorial Army drill hall in Paisley is to be put through its paces as student accommodation for the University of the West of Scotland by JR Group, John Gilbert and Carson & Partners.

The B-listed building has lain vacant since 1996 during which time it has been subjected to repeated bouts of vandalism and arson, dragging down the High Street which has become a focal point for new cultural initiatives such as Paisley Museum & Art Gallery and Coats Memorial Church.

Riverstone Developments with Axiom Architects have floated plans for a 105-bedroom hotel on stilts at Bridge Road, Pitlochry.

Occupying open space just outwith the towns conservation area, opposite a sewage treatment works, the site overlooks the River Tummel, offering unobstructed vistas but necessitating flood mitigation measures by raising the floor slab above the surrounding flood plain.

SCREEN GEM Govan’s Lyceum Cinema is to be given a new lease of life under plans to return the vacant B-listed Art Deco building to use as a cinema, concert hall and restaurant.

Exterior works planned by Versatyle include new front doors inserted in front of the existing, together with an LED canopy.

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Anderson Bell + Christie are proposing to erect an annexe to the Kinning Park Centre in Glasgow’s south side to provide 460sq/m of lettable office space.

The Cornwall Street annexe will establish a secure street perimeter with the space between used to form a shared courtyard with cycle parking, markets and growing spaces.

Glasgow has lost a staunch defender of its heritage and built environment with the passing of Mark Baines following a short battle with cancer.

An architect, theorist and urban studies teacher Baines emerged as a leading voice advocating respect for Glasgow’s built legacy through his role as chair of the Alexander Thompson Society (ATS) while also shaping the city’s future, most prominently through work on the 2008 Merchant Building at Glasgow Cross with Gholami Baines. Baines was recognised with a RIAS lifetime achievement award for teaching in 2013.

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Q U A R T E R L Y A P R D I G E S T NEW TOWN NORTH

V FOR VICTORY

An online consultation has been launched for New Town North by Ediston on behalf of Orion Capital Managers.

A 5.9-acre brownfield site stetching from Dundas Street to King George V Park will be the focus of a detailed application by 10 Design later in the year.

Glasgow city centre is set to play host to a new 260-bed apart hotel as part of a broader redevelopment of the Metropolitan Tower by Osborne & Co. Once again overseen by Cooper Cromar this element of the plan will adopt a complimentary modernist style with a rational main body of repeating bedroom modules rising from an expressive ‘V’ structure at the base.

ARRESTING Westpoint Homes have locked in a former police station at Finnieston Cross for the delivery of 84 flats above ground-floor retail.

The linear block has been designed by Norr to establish a commanding presence along Argyle Street, further extending the building line from the city centre.

TERRACOTTA TOWER Hawkins\Brown Architects have obtained planning consent to deliver a 250-bed hotel at the junction of St Vincent Street and Pitt Street.

Vienna House is led by Artisan Real Estate with Atelier 10 and Quattro Engineers and is described as being the

first project to meet Glasgow City Council’s gold standard criteria for carbon reduction.

The tower will stand upon a two-storey plinth containing a restaurant, bar and conference facilities, with massing stepped back to protect the B-listed St Columba’s Church.

BRIEFS Finalised plans have been issued for the overhaul of Aberdeen Market which will transform the down at heel area into a central civic space for public art installations, outdoor performances and markets.

Developer Patrizia is spearheading the approach which includes a dramatic green wall to soften a new glass and granite building designed by Halliday Fraser Munro which will serve as a focal point for surrounding streets.

LBA is to accommodate the practices own expansion with a farmyard business hub comprising workshops, office space and studios which will serve as a second home for the practice.

Orwell Farm on Glenrothes Road, Kinross, currently comprises an unlisted roofless stone steading and agricultural barns, one of which will be repurposed to form stand-alone offices and co-working spaces alongside conference and meeting facilities.

An A-listed road bridge in the Cairngorm National Park is to be bypassed with a new road and crossing to help alleviate vehicle damage to the stone rubble structure.

As such a new Gairnshiel Bridge is proposed to be built across the River Gairn, employing a low profile design of reinforced concrete abutments clad in matching locally sourced granite with steel beams supporting a single-carriage road deck.

Central Building Contractors has appointed administrators KPMG after encountering a cashflow crisis exacerbated by the necessity of closing all building sites from 23 March.

All 159 employees were placed on furlough from 1 April with 148 of those now made redundant with immediate effect, with only 11 staff retained to manage the administration process.

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Q U A R T E R L Y D I G E S T M A Y

RENTAL REVOLUTION

Ryder Architecture and Brickland have filed plans for a major build to rent development of 182 homes at 64-72 Waterloo Street in Glasgow City Centre.

Repurposing the B-listed Distiller’s

House (also known as Coltas House), the project will reinstate an ornate dome lost to fire in the 1940s. The team includes AA Projects, Woolgar Hunter, Futureserv and BB7

GARDEN DISTRICT

RAISE THE ROOF

Murray Estates and EMA have obtained planning consent from the Scottish Government to press ahead with delivery of 1,350 homes and associated infrastructure in the first phase of a controversial ‘garden district’.

Redheughs Village will ultimately contain a primary school, community centre and shops amidst 40 acres of parkland on the outskirts of the city.

DS Architecture is proposing to build an exuberant ‘floating’ roof extension which will oversail an existing singlestorey annexe to the rear of an existing property in Edinburgh.

Folding around a new extension, which will replace an unsightly garage with a gym, the space will be reconfigured as a dramatic open plan kitchen, dining and living space with a unified roofscape framing northerly views. Visualisation reproduced courtesy of Dalgety Design.

SCULPTURAL QUALITY The Scottish Sculpture Workshop (SSW) has filed plans for a significant extension and alterations to their Aberdeenshire home to improve environmental performance and community access.

A design team led by Collective Architecture propose to reinvigorate the current workshop and studio in the village of Lumsden by adopting a pragmatic approach of re-use wherever possible.

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BRIEFS Edinburgh’s embrace of the build-to-rent (BTR) sector is gathering steam with the submission of a substantial 527 home redevelopment proposal for the former John Lewis depot - part of a broader industrial to residential shift in the area.

Specialist developer PLATFORM_ is leading the charge following a similar bid to build 498 such apartments on Glasgow’s Broomielaw, recruiting jmarchitects to deliver on the sites full potential while acting as both funder and operator.

Completion is expected by the middle of 2023.

Dundee City Council has selected British artist Lee Simmons to deliver an aquatic centrepiece for the Waterfront Place public park.

The shoreline regeneration project will blend land and water by lifting a giant Humpback Whale sculpture on stilts around which people will be able to freely wander below an ‘interactive canvas’.

Anderson Bell + Christie are bringing forward plans

by Queens Cross Housing Association to deliver social rented accommodation on the site of a former hostel near St George’s Cross, Glasgow.

25 Burnbank Gardens will see the current Burnbank House demolished to allow construction of 46 new flats with green screens and ‘sitooteries’ to promote social interaction.

South Ayrshire Council have kickstarted ambitious regeneration proposals for the town of Maybole with publication of a four-year roadmap to prosperity.

A partnership approach with businesses and residents will see grants offered to upgrade shopfronts and carry out vital fabric repairs. Environmental planning is led by LUC with Sustrans developing new and improved walking and cycling routes.

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Q U A R T E R L Y M A Y D I G E S T LAST STAND

STIRLING GOES FORTH

David Narro Associates have been commissioned by Gala Fairydean Rovers to undertake repair and conservation of the A-listed Netherdale Stand in Galashiels.

A Brutalist masterpiece, renowned for offering football fans unobstructed views by banishing support pillars the future of the cantilevered canopy has been in doubt over recent years pending essential restoration work to water damaged concrete.

Ambassador Group has held an online consultation into the mixed-use redevelopment of the Craigforth Campus in Stirling.

A planning application is being written by Stallan-Brand for the 49.5-hectare site, delivering a mix of uses including offices, homes, a hotel, leisure and retail.

WELL ROUNDED Merchant Homes with Graeme Nicholls Architects have launched a public consultation to guide their approach to a significant residential development at Ibrox which will deliver 160 ‘Glasgow Standard’ flats at the junction of Edmiston Drive and Broomloan Road.

Located on the Albion car park the development employs a distinctive horseshoe profile in a conscious evocation of its former life as a greyhound stadium, bringing the sporting heritage of the area to life with a four-storey tenement loop.

THEMATIC LEARNING Boclair Academy in Bearsden is to benefit from purpose-built new accommodation following the submission of plans for a new school to East Dunbartonshire Council by Ryder Architecture.

Catering for 1,050 pupils with improved

outdoor sports facilities integrated within its suburban setting has been conceived under a cross-curricular that groups related departments that support interdisciplinary and thematic learning beyond individual subjects.

BRIEFS A disused bus depot in Govanhill, Glasgow, is to be reimagined as a mixed tenure community of 121 homes under plans brought forward by the Link Group in partnership with Govanhill Housing Association.

Built around two parks and twin private courtyards the Hypostyle scheme seeks to create a walkable community that discourages car use through an emphasis on accessibility, internal cycle stores, reduced car parking and landscape design by RankinFraser.

Detailed drawings have been filed

by Parabola for a residentialled, mixed-use masterplan at Edinburgh Park.

The 43-acre masterplan will deliver 1,700 homes, 434 classed as affordable, to the west of a large public arrival space at Edinburgh Park Station. Here it is proposed to build a 20,000sq/m pre-cast concrete office building alongside a 170 room apart-hotel and cinema connected to the station building by a covered frame.

The masterplan architect is Dixon Jones, supported by residential architects Sutherland Hussey Harris and HTA Design.

Three candidates have emerged as contenders to be the next president of the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland.

Up for consideration is Christina Gaiger of Helen Lucas Architects who has vowed to continue reforms introduced by Robin Webster while building a new architectural network to promote a pan-profession agenda and establish a ‘role models’ programme.

Gaiger is up against Karen Pickering of Page\Park who has vowed to lobby for changes in procurement as well as insider Gordon Smith who has vowed to pursue a more defined role for the body as an architects union.

The successful candidate will be named during the RIAS AGM on 30 June.

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Q U A R T E R L Y D I G E S T J U N

HEATH CITY Plans for a new Health Innovation Quarter have been trailed in an online consultation launched today by Edinburgh BioQuarter.

The hi-tech district is proposed as an organic extension to the medical campus centred on the Royal Infirmary

BRIEFS of Edinburgh, where a mixed-use neighbourhood is proposed to be created over the next decade.

Indicative proposals for the 167-acre site envisage a lively mix of retail and leisure uses, complementing homes for up to 20,000 people.

ABERDEEN STATION

STREET DINING

An £8m overhaul of Aberdeen Station is back on track with the appointment of Austin-Smith:Lord as lead design consultant as part of a broader team including Fairhurst, SVM, Abta Safety and Gleeds.

The practice was first brought on board in January 2017 to provide pre-construction architectural services but with funding now in place work can proceed in earnest subject to resolution of the virus situation.

Business owners on Argyle Street, Finnieston, have united in support of dramatic plans to lift the street from its lockdown slumber by erecting a linear glasshouse to serve as an outdoor dining experience.

Led by local architect and Crabshakk owner John MacLeod with input from Graven Images the project aims to draw people outdoors by erecting a glazed pavilion extending from Kelvingrove Street to Derby Street - retaining the current pavements for pedestrian and services access.

Citing the public good in a changed reality of open-ended social distancing measures Macleod cites the need for open-plan venues for patrons to eat and drink in relative safety, fearing that customers will be reluctant to return to more intimate settings.

URBAN REALM SUMMER 2020 URBANREALM.COM

Soller Group has filed a detailed planning application to create 200,000sq/ft of office space at Glasgow’s Broomielaw commercial district overseen by Mosaic Architecture + Design.

Carrick Square will stand between Brown Street and Carrick Street, connecting both with a new pedestrian link and a landscaped plaza. Sheer glass walls rising through 14 storeys to a large roof terrace will define these spaces, with panoramic views across the River Clyde on offer from a rooftop terrace.

Glencairn Properties and Susan Stephen Architects have secured planning approval to proceed with the delivery of 141 student flats at Montrose Terrace, Edinburgh - subject to a detailed specification of external materials, a full landscape plan and details of an exclusion zone to safeguard trees.

Situated on the junction with West Norton Place the stated aim of the project is to complete the street under plans first laid out in the 1800s with infill apartments of natural stone panelling, zinc cladding and glazed curtain walling.

A formal application has been made for the most radical transformation of Edinburgh’s A-listed King’s Theatre since its opening in 1906.

Bennetts Associates have been appointed by Capital Theatres to undertake a series of alterations and improvements to the 110-year old venue which will improve access while enabling the theatre to facilitate a range of community and educational programmes.

The application has been brought forward with technical assistance from Theatreplan; Thomas & Adamson; Max Fordham; Will Rudd Davidson and Gleeds.

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Q U A R T E R L Y J U N D I G E S T HAYMARKET

STARS ALIGN

An outmoded office block in the heart of Edinburgh’s Haymarket office district is to be dragged from the 1970s into the 21st century by Aviva Investors.

A proposal of application notice has been filed for Rosebery House by 3DReid Architects as a precursor to demolition, opening up the brownfield site for a new net-zero carbon development.

Collective Architecture and Design Engineering Workshop are working with the Astronomical Society of Glasgow to deliver a new observatory within Mugdock Country Park.

The Eric Tomney Memorial Observatory represents a scaled-back vision from a previously consented scheme on the northern fringe of the park at Craigallan Road.

Formed from a ‘kit of parts’ including shipping containers disguised by timber battens, this low thermal mass design solution will blend into the protected landscape as seamlessly as possible.

The self-sufficient facility will be powered by on-site wind and solar energy with access provided directly from an existing overflow car park.

BRIEFS Full details of the long-awaited refurbishment of Millport town hall have been published, the culmination of concerted efforts by the Friends of Millport Town Hall to find a new use for the 1878 landmark.

Serving as the civic heart of the Isle of Cumbrae until 2012 the unlisted building has swiftly deteriorated to the point where it now languishes on the Buildings at Risk Register.

Now O’DonnellBrown Architects have authored detailed plans to renovate the structure to serve as a community hub once again.

Glasgow City Council has approved its City Centre Living Strategy following a 10week public consultation.

The roadmap sets out measures to double the population of central districts to 40,000 by 2035 through incentives to convert vacant commercial space, developing brownfield land and delivering new public spaces.

Cunninghame Housing Association has commenced delivery of 45 affordable homes on the site of the former Lockerbie Academy.

Delivered in partnership with Dumfries & Galloway Council and Collective Architecture the brownfield project has been conceived as a gateway to the town, delivering a mix of houses, flats and bungalows which knit into the existing built fabric.

AHEAD OF THE CURVE Developer Nixon Blue has rolled a curveball in its efforts to build a new flatted development at 35A St Vincent Crescent, Glasgow, after reprising its apartments plan at the hands of a new architect.

Page\Park Architects have been

signed up to get the scheme over the line with an £8m scheme to build 36 apartments, this time around incorporating a Victorian-style ‘pleasure garden’ led by landscape architects HarrisonStevens.

Collective Architecture director Jude Barber has become the latest candidate to stand for RIBA president; placing inclusivity, climate and collaboration at the heart of her manifesto.

Barber will go head-to-head with AHMM co-founder Simon Allford and Sumita Singha, founder of Ecologic and Architects for Change - the only other candidates to publicly declare in the race.

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NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH ALISTAIR SCOTT

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THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC HAS MADE US ALL ACUTELY AWARE OF OUR SURROUNDINGS AND THE POSSIBLE CHANGES AHEAD ON HOW WE MIGHT REGARD THEM. AS A FOUNDER OF ARCHITECTS SMITH SCOTT MULLAN ASSOCIATES, FORMER CHAIR OF THE SCOTTISH CIVIC TRUST AND A CURRENT BOARD MEMBER OF ARCHITECTURE & DESIGN SCOTLAND, ALISTAIR SCOTT HAS HAD A LONG INVOLVEMENT IN AREA REGENERATION AND ARGUES THAT ‘NEIGHBOURHOOD’ IS THE KEY COMPONENT OF OUR PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT.

NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH

From the joys of local shopping, to the challenges of home schooling and even the Thursday evening street clapping session, the current crisis has made us all consider those two key locations in our lives – our home and our neighbourhood. This is highly appropriate, for as we try to build better towns and cities, we really do need to see the neighbourhood as the fundamental spatial building block of our towns and cities. It is where we live, access immediate services and have casual social interaction. It is central to our sense of belonging and hence to our health and wellbeing in general. However for something so important, the concept doesn’t feature strongly enough in our thinking on how we will expand our settlements or regenerate existing areas.

Plenty of analysis exists into how many houses Scotland should be producing in a year (generally thought to be around 30,000) but we need to think not just of units but of neighbourhoods. Even attempting to quantify this is difficult, but even a “back of the napkin” calculation will show the challenge. If even half of these houses were central to neighbourhood creation, we should be producing about 6 totally new, successful, neighbourhoods every year (assuming a neighbourhood of about 5000 residents). As it takes a minimum of about 10 years to create a neighbourhood, we should be able to identify about 60 new neighbourhoods currently under development across Scotland - but I just don’t think we can. If you take a look at the general product of our housing industry, you usually see a car-orientated form of compressed residential suburbia rather than diverse, thriving neighbourhoods. So how do we change that?

A fundamental change has been happening at Scottish Government policy level in recent years, with The National Performance Framework defining overall objectives and the more recent adoption of the “Place Principle” guiding resource allocation and service delivery. At a physical level this manifests itself in initiatives such as the “Place Standard” which I am sure many of us have successfully used as a discussion basis in our work. Developed by Architecture & Design Scotland, Public Health Scotland and the Scottish Government, this is a particularly effective tool in neighbourhood planning as it addresses both physical and social issues. At present the introduction of Local Place Plans is a continuation of this process.

All these moves are highly positive, but both communities and developers need to have an easily understood focus on the physical planning of an area and I believe that the principle of “neighbourhood” does provide that.

This notion is not in any way a new one (Gardens Cities / Urban Villages etc.) but one of the problems with “neighbourhood” is that it is just hard to pin down > URBAN REALM SUMMER 2020 URBANREALM.COM

© BLUE SKY PHOTOGRAPHY

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The first step to seeding any new community begins at home

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NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH

Left - A 10 minute walking radius is used as shorthand to guage proximity to amenities Right - Events have overtaken the best laid plans but the climate emergency the most pressing long-term issue facing humanity

as a physical form due to the degree of variety, yet on a personal level each one of us has pretty clear idea of what it means to us. Look at most town or city development plans and you can find certain areas that could be defined as neighbourhoods, often if they are conservation areas or have some form of physical barriers, but it is not a universal way of seeing things. This is no doubt because the concept is to a large extent based on human perception, although I believe that good physical planning would make their identification a whole lot easier.

As designers of our physical environment we need to make long term decisions. Various organisations are developing 2040 visions, which is probably a pretty

URBAN REALM SUMMER 2020 URBANREALM.COM

good time horizon for our towns and cities, but we need to move from discussing visions to formulating detail plans and guidance. We need to take into account issues such as our rapid technological change and our Climate Emergency (yes – remember when news programmes featured that!). So we need to do it now, as the next 20 years will see a significant expansion of many of our towns and cities - just look at the number of new “villages / districts / linked settlements etc.” in the planning pipeline. So let’s think “neighbourhood”.

If we envisage neighbourhoods along the traditional European model of walkable access to facilities, pedestrian orientated streets which allow face to face interaction and buildings which create a distinctive

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public realm, the pattern is reasonably clear and we can get stuck into the detail. We need continuous cycle routes, we need to re-provision local high streets and we need to work out how we actually make a zero carbon conservation area. Not insignificant tasks, but not insurmountable either, and we are gearing up for the challenge.

However, the current situation will set us a whole new set of circumstances, such as the increase in homeworking and flexible work patterns which should result in people spending more time in their local neighbourhood. This provides us with opportunities to promote issues key to our wellbeing, such as cycle routes and the necessity for local greenspace for exercise.

However, I can also see some significant threats to this agenda emerging. After a fairly long period of general consensus in urbanism, the combination of the social and economic impact of Coronavirus, along with emerging technologies could easily lead to other visions gaining credibility.

On-line retail is killing traditional shopping and almost everything is available via home delivery, which will increasingly make the home the place to receive all services, from shopping to remote healthcare. Meanwhile the success of digital platforms such as Microsoft Teams is causing a re-think of the need for workspace and hence commuting requirements.

The self-driving transformation is now on the horizon, >

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NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH

Left - Lockdown has reinforced the importance of outdoor space to flat dwellers Right - Sightseers may see more than they bargained for on a visit to New York’s High Line

with all that means for personal and service mobility.

Throw in concentrated food production replacing all those muddy acres of methane-generating cows and fields of barley which surround our settlements and you get an argument for understanding our neighbourhoods as much wider networks – a spread-out, digitally connected, Uber and drone serviced urban pattern.

This scenario is incidentally more resilient to pandemic transition (you don’t need all that dangerous public transport) and it is interesting to note that in the 1940’s case for developing the New Towns, one of the influencing factors was the vulnerability of densely packed cities to aerial bombing and hence a bit of built in social distancing was required! So if your aim is to promote the replacement of our greenbelts with a low density suburbia (as is happening now) then the argument is not hard to construct.

However, as one who strongly believes in walkable and physically socially connected communities, this scenario just doesn’t appeal to my view of lifestyle.

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There is obviously no easy answer to this dichotomy but I feel a debate emerging and we really don’t have the luxury of time for prolonged discussion. My personal view is that we need to accept that technology changes rapidly and that human culture evolves more slowly. In the next few years, we are going the see rapid advances in areas such as biotechnology and artificial intelligence, but perhaps our basic motivations may not be that different from our ancestors. Following this path would entail un-coupling the view (probably historically correct) that our physical environment is a direct reflection of our technological capability. We then need to be guided by humanist values and make our technology serve these ends. So, my case is that we continue to see our neighbourhoods in the “European” tradition, but allow them to develop for the future, incorporating our emerging technology.

Obviously, neighbourhoods come in all shapes and sizes, but very roughly they could be thought of as about a square kilometre in area and their character is then

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formed by architectural factors such as landform, height of buildings and density. So if we are to imagine a 2040 neighbourhood, we need some fixed points of reference, so how about these seven: 1. A definite identity or sense of “place” is vital to our perception of our neighbourhood.

2. Diversity is the key to sustainability - as it in in all nature.

3. The accepted 400 meter walking radius (about a 5 - 7 minute walk) to basic facilities will still define our ideal immediate surroundings.

4. Facilities must cluster and not be just located on the cheapest, most readily available site.

5. Each neighbourhood will require a hierarchy of varied, high quality greenspace.

6. Linkage to the wider urban structure is vital.

7. Education will still be communal and the Primary School will be a major focus of the neighbourhood, hence we need more consideration of their location and their wider community role.

Around these we can develop location specific issues such as density, streetscape continuity, car reduction, local food production and energy efficiency, but we will see the neighbourhood as the core focus for all planning and development decisions. There is nothing in this that prevents us being part of on-line communities or taking a driverless cab into town for a night out, but it would cement a basic attachment to a “place” in our lives, which I believe is crucial to our health and wellbeing.

In many existing communities such positions have evolved naturally, but where we are regenerating, revitalising or creating new communities we just so often seem to fall short. Often the private sector developer gets the blame (and sometimes deserves it) but this is an issue where the civic body in general must take the lead. This means proactive planning at all levels and integration of public, community and private resources and ambitions. In the end it is all about people and just perhaps this period of reflection on how we interact with those immediately around us will prove to be a catalyst for a better and more considered future.

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FAITHLIE CENTRE JOHN GLENDAY

ABERDEENSHIRE COUNCIL HAS TURBOCHARGED REGENERATION OF FRASERBURGH WITH THE UNVEIL OF AN AMBITIOUS COUNCIL SERVICES HUB THAT DELIVERS THREE BUILDINGS FOR THE PRICE OF ONE. WE ASSESS WHAT THIS CIVIC HUB SAYS ABOUT THE TOWNS FUTURE AS WELL AS ITS PAST. PHOTOGRAPHY BY SIMON KENNEDY

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FAITHLIE CENTRE

Previous page - A corten steel sheath unifies the facades while speaking to the fisheries industry Left - The public face of the hub symbolically turns to the dilapidated Braeheads social housing development Right - Fishing nets, weaves and astragal windows inspired the perforated facade

The fishing town of Fraserburgh, on the Northeast coast of Scotland, is in the middle of a dramatic transformation as Aberdeenshire Council spruces up the public and civic realm in a bid to put its best foot forward in these challenging times.

Fraserburgh 2021 is a townscape regeneration scheme covering projects ranging from the upgrade of street signage and shopfronts to saving individual buildings from deterioration. By far the most significant element of this initiative is the Faithlie Centre, a radical reimagining of the former Saltoun Chambers and police station, two buildings unified at the hands of Moxon Architects who have delivered a set-piece new addition as part of a broader refurbishment to deliver a council presence befitting the 21st century.

Setting the scene for the scheme Ben Addy said: “Fraserburgh is a remarkable place, jutting out at the top right-hand corner of the north sea coast. Aberdeenshire is already self-sufficient and autonomous in some ways. It’s not in the central belt, the farmland is very productive and Peterhead/Fraserburgh combined represents 80% of the UK fisheries catch. There’s also oil and the beginnings of offshore URBAN REALM SUMMER 2020 URBANREALM.COM

renewables.

Culturally its heritage extends to contacts with the continent and the Baltics. There’s always been autonomy and the town epitomises that. It’s tough and robust and I mean that only in a positive sense. It needs the injection of capital but it’s got fantastic bones already.

“Saltoun Chambers is a very fine building and it turns the corner off the square nicely. It’s a beautiful and wellproportioned building. The police station follows the same module but in granite and was the austere cousin of the building on the corner. It was always the mean relative, not helped by the fact that it’s been derelict for quite some time. They’re fine buildings but they didn’t address the space behind them in any meaningful way. It was leftover wasteland. That is what our part of the building is addressing.” While the backcourt has been improved it still draws the short straw when it comes to parking, although Addy insists a planting scheme native to the coastal area will mitigate the impact in time.

Talking Urban Realm through the thinking which shaped this approach to a context which includes the seventies-era

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Braeheads social housing on one side and the historic Saltoun Square on the other. This desire to treat the surrounding context on an equal footing and improve vertical circulation has resulted in a highly three-dimensional building. Addy explained: “Braeheads is a fantastic bit of urbanism, it needs some investment, but in terms of the streetscape it could only exist in a place like the Northeast of Scotland. It’s reminiscent of Gardenstown further along the coast.”

“This building completes the piece and also addresses the harbour area from the natural stepping of the townscape up to the square. Each of the three buildings addresses quite different considerations.”

A dramatic corten steel sheath serves as a machine cut veil and defines activities within through a series of slots and holes designed to carefully frame selected views. “The

pattern took a lot of iteration and development because that pattern was not what we had at the planning stage,” notes Addy. “We knew we wanted some form of perforation for privacy and light and we developed the pattern during the contract. We were looking at fishing nets, weaves and astragal windows - it’s all alliteration and allusion. People have said it looks Mackintoshesque but this is accidental. We also wanted to maximise views so bigger holes are sited at landings, with tighter patterns going up and down the stairs.

“In functional terms, the purpose of the extension is to bind these two existing buildings together and provide fully accessible circulation vertically and horizontally. I’m happy that’s what it’s doing because both buildings were very tricky to move around if you were visually or mobility impaired in any way.” >

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FAITHLIE CENTRE

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Left - New vertical circulation makes sense of a multilayered interior Right - The exuberance of Saltoun Chambers provides a tough act to follow

If flamboyance is the watchword for new-build additions then the refurbishment elements of the project are a far more sedate affair, enabling the craftsmanship and quality of the past to shine through unimpeded. “In terms of the existing building we took the view that it’s as much about the sensible deployment of the client’s money as anything, you have to take a strategic choice on how the budget is going to be set out. We took the view that all we had to do was clean, remove accretions of rubbish and paint it a single colour so you could see the quality of the workmanship in lincrusta wallboards, plaster cornices and mouldings. The dome is gorgeous. We put lots of efforts into reformulating the circulation but the workmanship is exquisite. As much as I might say go look at the corten on the back - go look at that dome.”

More prosaically the extension also delivers the necessary heating and ducting to service retained elements, standing as a form of ‘battery pack’. “That’s partly why it’s expressed so differently,” observes Addy. “It’s doing a different job.”

Key to this approach was the successful integration of

all three elements through recognising the pattern of large and small masonry stones in the back wall and carrying that through to the corten, consciously creating a layered building in the process. “There’s a gutsiness to the building and a consciousness that this was going to be something unique to the town,” comments Addy.

At heart, it’s not what the Faithlie Centre is or how it achieves its goals but rather where the building is situated that matters most. In the face of increased sprawl, it stands as a vote of confidence in the town centre. “We won this about the time of Cairngorm National Park in Grantown-onSpey. They are both located in the town centre in a conscious decision to maintain a presence in the town and not build in a green field.”

Through a process of agglomeration, the Faithlie Centre has been reimagined as something greater than the sum of its parts, elevating Fraserburgh above its past and present accomplishments to instil a new sense of place and pride in the future.

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THE CRINAN CANAL JOHN GLENDAY

A FORMER TRANSIT SHED IN ARDRISHAIG MAKES FOR AN UNLIKELY HERITAGE AND COMMUNITY CENTRE FOLLOWING ITS METAMORPHOSIS AT THE HANDS OF OLIVER CHAPMAN ARCHITECTS. MARKING THE BOUNDARY BETWEEN LAND AND SEA CAN THIS ATTRACTION SHORE UP LOCAL TOURISM BY PUTTING THE CRINAN CANAL BACK ON THE MAP? PHOTOGRAPHY BY ANGUS BREMNER.

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THE CRINAN CANAL

Previous page - A rugged roofline reflects the Argyll landscape Left - An impressive turnout of locals and dignitaries were on hand for the official unveil Right - Built directly onto the loch the attraction provides capitvating views

At the Ardrishaig entrance to the Crinan Canal, a striking heritage and community centre has risen from the abandoned remains of a former transit shed, bringing an industrial waterfront back into the public domain in the process.

Colloquially referred to as The Egg Shed, referencing one of the primary products to pass through its doors, this unassuming space on the shores of Loch Gilp has been repurposed as a waterside destination following painstaking work to remove a less welcome legacy of oil contamination relating to the sites most recent use as an oil storage depot with eggs winning out as the more palatable tale. Unfairly passed over in favour of the Georgian delights of Inveraray Ardrishaig (and Lochgilphead just around the corner) are in process of reimagining themselves as tourist destinations in their own right, with the canal serving as the URBAN REALM SUMMER 2020 URBANREALM.COM

jewel in the crown and the Egg Shed serving as a honeypot to ensure visitors (and their cash) stick around. Outlining how the such a venture came to be, project architect Oliver Chapman of Oliver Chapman Architects told Urban Realm: “We did a charrette with Scottish Canals about three years ago, they own a lot of land and have a good partnership with the council. The canal is a good draw but you don’t see it as you approach, it’s hardly visible. It’s only when you head north you see that interesting heritage.”

Ardrishaig sits at the mouth of the canal and still retains infrastructure such as a ticket and harbourmaster office which once dealt with passengers sailing up the Clyde for a canal tour, although its days as a steamer terminal are now long gone. “A lot of people get anxious about the road network and the Rest and Be Thankful is always a talking point,” notes Chapman. “There’s a real push to get timber

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lorries off the roads and onto boats. Now instead of being a steamer terminal, there’s a nice set up with the Forestry Commission whereby a boat turns up every couple of days to take lorry loads of timber off to Ayr. “When we did the charrette we thought heavy goods traffic would be a bad neighbour, everyone’s going to get fraught about health and safety, but all the locals like to see activity and be part of that.” Bold use of red steel serves as a nod to the rural surroundings while distinguishing new and retained elements, to create what is essentially a building within a building with the new roofline overlapping the old. Chapman said: “There is a heritage of rusty red roofs and we’re doing some large scale Ardrishaig Harbour signage on another existing building nearby. It’s part of that agricultural and industrial heritage.“When I joined Ricard Murphy back in the day he was picking up the story from

Carlo Scarpa and it’s a well-trodden device to separate the new from the old. I find it more and more interesting to curate the layers of history and not necessarily see things as black and white. What was fun is that the building inside the stone shell is lifted a couple of metres, so this popped up through the roof. It reminded me of a legacy of the raised land it sits on where each time somebody gets involved they raise the land a metre or two and now it’s our turn.”

While a waterfront situation is particularly vulnerable to flooding it also presents significant opportunities, not least of which is lochside views, something the architects have used to full advantage. Chapman continued: “We’ve made a nice experience inside the building where you’re right up against the water. It’s the sea wall of the building. I don’t think there are many places where you can get that thrill of being inside a building where the water is right up close to >

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THE CRINAN CANAL

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A eet Str ers

alm Ch Loch Gilp

Ardrishaig Boatyard

Pier Square

The Egg Shed Ardrishaig Site Plan 0

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10

20

50 m

Left - Nested layers of new and old retain memories of a rich past Right - Parallel forms shadow the quay wall, providing a natural point of delineation between heritage and community components

you. The tides are quite aggressive. I’ve seen Ted Cullinan take the idea of a ruin and remodel it, not treating it quite so preciously as a conservation architect would do. We took the liberty of dropping the wall head down and expanding the windows so you can lookout. The building works very well as a visitor centre so you’re not just looking at artefacts in a cabinet but you can see the flock of birds across the loch as well as read about them. You can link the content inside the building to the context outside.”

Picking up on ideas first trialled in the Bed Box, an innovative mash-up of a bed and built-in storage, which freed up valuable floor space for other uses, Chapman has taken these ideas up a notch with adjustable connectivity while having fun with a playful cantilevered entrance. He said: “Our new building locks onto the older part but they can be opened up and closed down separately. I’ve always enjoyed playing around with solids and voids. It’s a bit of a thrill in architecture to carve things out.” More than just a standalone building the Egg Shed plays a pivotal role in a broader public realm masterplan which connects Pier Square with the canal itself. “Hopefully one day they’ll be able to move cars out of Pier Square”, says Chapman.

Complementary efforts to transform the canal into an active travel link to Lochgilphead are also underway with landscape design specialists ERZ spearheading efforts to thread the canal into a revitalised Front Green. A tender has also been issued for an architect team to expand the MacPool where there is an ambition to establish a water sports destination.

Looking further ahead Chapman envisages even greater benefits by establishing a boating economy akin to that found in Scandinavia. “If you look at a map of Sweden, Denmark or Norway every little village has a marina. It must be a cultural thing,” he observes. “If we put the infrastructure in for step ashore facilities we could build up that infrastructure.” While tourism remains a double-edged sword, with areas such as Edinburgh and the Isle of Skye creaking under the sheer weight of the seasonal masses the Ardrishaig-Lochgilphead corridor is well placed to capitalise on any resumption in travel courtesy of its copious natural and historic assets. Development would also help draw some away from the main honeypots. The folly of putting all your eggs in a few baskets can be countered by playing to broader strengths.

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LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE

As walking and cycling surge in popularity much new infrastructure will be required to accommodate this modal shift

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WA L K TH I S WA Y AT A TIME WHEN OUTDOOR SPACE HAS NEVER BEEN MORE VITAL TO HEALTH AND WELLBEING URBAN REALM ASSESSES THE PRACTICES AND PROJECTS WHICH ARE DOING MOST TO FACILITATE NEW WAYS OF INTERACTING WITH OUR BUILT ENVIRONMENT, LED

BY A RENAISSANCE IN WALKING AND CYCLING.

Sheena Raeburn Director RaeburnFarquharBowen How are you evolving your work to mitigate climate change?

Holistic masterplanning where decisions made about where development might go and how this affects existing natural systems, soils and ecology are critical factors for biodiversity survival & carbon sequestration. Being mindful of preserving, protecting and enhancing natural heritage assets including irreplaceable landscapes, such as mature trees and woodland.

Successful places have a resource efficient layout that maximises multifunctionality whilst minimising the overprovision of hard landscape surfaces. Well integrated rainwater management through the landscape, and exploration of natural urban cooling through trees and climate resilient planting supporting biodiversity, is the way forward.

Will we bounce back to business as usual or is this moment a rupture with the past?

There is a palpable appreciation of micro-local as an antidote to lockdown. Air pollution is one of the leading causes of premature death (World Health Organisation 2018). There’s an awakening that walking and cycling in a clean air environment is given as a basic human right, but this has to be coupled with reducing dependency on cars, particularly in towns and cities.

With restrictions easing but group activities still inadvisable, demand for accessible recreation for families is massive. The Wanderings & Windings heritage trail routes that we developed & waymarked around the Inner Forth Landscapes, co-designed with local people, are a welcoming and user-friendly way to open up the wider countryside.

Crucially these are dispersing people away from the popular honeypots and into more tranquil and locally accessible places. >

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LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE

What role can landscape play in bringing people together?

Retrofitting of green infrastructure can play a critical role in transforming underused urban spaces around existing housing.

Co-design and community led initiatives have tremendous potential, with many social housing providers leading the way.

Far sighted third sector organisations recognise that the trees and green spaces are as much of an asset to their communities as the building stock.

The hierarchy of good placemaking principal supports design of spaces for people first and we are witnessing a cultural, political and environmental shift. We can help embed active travel as the easiest option, reduce air pollution, promote health & wellbeing, and reduce the carbon burden on the environment. Transforming spaces for planting, play and food growing can enrich quality of life and strengthen the bond between neighbours.

Sophie Tombleson Principal Landscape Architect LUC How has the lockdown affected landscape architecture?

The transition from office to home working has taken place relatively seamlessly thanks to LUCs flexible and pragmatic approach to working hours, and my projects, including the new Usher Institute building at the Edinburgh BioQuarter, are progressing nicely. That said, we are all very aware of the challenges being faced across the industry as a whole and I feel the real impact will filter through to the design industry later in the year. Hopefully the need for more accessible outdoor spaces, better cycle and pedestrian infrastructure, and a bounce back on green energy will provide some light at the end of the tunnel.

How are you evolving your work to mitigate climate change?

A meaningful response to climate adaptation needs to be multi-faceted, and with a focus on the long term. Designing spaces that will endure is an underpinning element of all our designs, and we put climate positive design at the forefront. We are constantly learning from our past experience and keeping abreast of ongoing research; this means understanding and selecting resilient tree species > URBAN REALM SUMMER 2020 URBANREALM.COM

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LUC’s BioQuarter masterplan brings healthy living to the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh

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Left - LDA’s Sighthill TRA Masterplan: Parkland (under construction) Right - Atkins are rethinking the way towns and cities are designed

appropriate for the current and future context, allowing diversity of species to maximise ecological benefits and minimise risk of future failures, and responding to context both environmentally and socially so that the landscape becomes an integral part of its setting.

What role can landscape play in bringing people together?

Access to green space and contact with nature is proving critical for both our mental and physical well-being, but the current crisis has highlighted a disparity in who is easily able to access these areas – those of us without private gardens have to rely on the public realm, streets and parks for our daily escape. The experience of these spaces can have such an impact on our lives, and if they are well considered, welcoming and safe they draw people together, often in a more organic and serendipitous way. If we design our streets with more inviting places to rest and play, and enable comfortable travel by foot or bike, then there will naturally be more social interaction and greater opportunity to foster a sense of community.

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Rory Wilson Associate Landscape Architect LDA Design What project has done the most to push the profession forward in the past 12 months?

From a studio perspective, our work on George Street in Edinburgh over the last year has been instrumental in pushing the profession forward.

It has allowed us to utilise and demonstrate the landscape architects’ collective skillset in balancing the often conflicting wants and needs of stakeholders and the public to develop a proposal which holistically responds to the current and future needs of the city and, more importantly, its citizens.

LDA Design’s ‘People First’ approach has ensured that the proposals deliver a better balanced, fair and equitable public realm which firmly places the priority on people and active travel over cars and vehicular movement within the street.

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How has the lockdown affected landscape architecture?

One of the few positives presented by the pandemic is that it has allowed people to re-engage with their outdoor spaces.

Whilst this may have being born out of necessity, the restrictions placed upon our movements have allowed many of us to begin to really appreciate and perhaps revaluate the importance and value we place upon our immediate outdoor spaces, be they gardens, streets, local parks or other greenspaces.

Moving forward, an opportunity has been presented by the lockdown for us as landscape architects to harness the new importance placed upon our outdoor space into positive action to ensure greater access to an improved public realm for all.

place of the new Sighthill.

Active travel routes are placed at the heart of the proposals, reducing future dependency on vehicle movements whilst encouraging better health outcomes.

The tree species and planting mixes for Sighthill have been specifically developed to be adaptable to increased temperatures whilst also mitigating against the impacts of potential issues relating to native and non-native pests and diseases.

How are you evolving your work to mitigate climate change?

The Sighthill TRA project in Glasgow allowed us to take a multifaceted approach to climate change adaption.

Rather than adopting an engineered solution to accommodate an anticipated increased precipitation and risk of flooding, the SuDS have been wholly integrated within the parklands and streets, forming part of the inherent sense of

Will we bounce back to business as usual or is this moment a rupture with the past?

I’m optimistic that ‘Build Back Better’ is a scenario that will play out in this crisis. However, we will need to see substantial government intervention. The lessons of the 2008 financial crisis will need to be properly applied, together with an overhaul of key policy and regulatory frameworks. But no matter how challenging this seems,

Stephen Bacon CMLI Associate Director Atkins

>

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LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE

the macro arguments for Building Back Better are currently winning the day within government, across industry and within society at large.

Our challenge is to innovate and deliver real progress and tangible value outcomes against our Client’s strategic commitments, all whilst protecting their long-term viability.

What role can landscape play in bringing people together?

A colleague recently compared the current-day Landscape Architect to a Victorian Engineer, both at the forefront of tackling their society’s greatest challenges. Never has this been more relevant than during the COVID-19 crisis, where the true communal value of our landscape and public spaces is now being understood.

We are working with clients including SUSTRANS and Learning through Landscapes on a ‘Safer Public Spaces’ initiative, exploring how to implement social distancing across our towns, cities, workplaces, travel hubs, parks and schools, where our public spaces will be integral to the process of recovery, reopening the UK and ‘Build Back Better’.

Kirsty Knott Liane Bauer David Muir rankinfraser landscape architecture How has the lockdown affected landscape architecture?

The easing of restrictions raises questions about the role of landscape in a post-Covid-19 world. Clearly social distancing is harder to achieve indoors therefore the provision of external spaces in public buildings requires thought. Similarly, many are rediscovering the value of their URBAN REALM SUMMER 2020 URBANREALM.COM

© GILLIAN HAYES

How are you evolving your work to mitigate climate change?

As Landscape practitioners we have a duty to encourage awareness and action for the protection of our environment. We need to be proactive with our Clients, helping them to address the sustainability, climate and carbon challenges of today.

SuDS, for example, are becoming a frequently important part of the modern landscape. Atkins is working with City of Edinburgh Council to develop ‘Sustainable Rainwater Management Guidance’ for its streets and new developments, in keeping with the Council’s Climate Change agenda. This is the first of its kind in Scotland, setting a high benchmark for integration of blue-green infrastructure in the City.

garden, local park and the wider landscape. Kier Starmer has described the affects of Covid-19 on the nation’s mental health as the ‘hidden cost’. Landscape can assist individuals struggling with mental health issues brought about by the consequences of the pandemic. These issues are not new to the profession however lockdown brings a new urgency and the profession should bring its expertise to maximise the potential the landscape offers us.

David Muir, Senior Landscape Architect Will we bounce back to business as usual or is this moment a rupture with the past?

Yes, absolutely. The biggest crisis for humanity is not Covid19 but climate change. Landscape Architects are

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RankinFraser stress the importance of teamwork if our response to the post-Covid landscape is to be fruitful

uniquely positioned to buffer the effects of the changes already happening such as extreme weather conditions ranging from cloud bursts to drought by developing innovative Green Blue Masterplans for cities across the nation and world. By greening our cities through the expansion of green networks and corridors and investment in urban woodlands we can help prepare our environment and eco-systems to cope with rising temperatures and ever-increasing air pollution. All of this can be used to create better, greener more attractive open spaces for our cities. There is more for us to do than ever and it has never been more urgent or important!

Liane Bauer, Associate

How are you evolving your work to mitigate climate change?

Climate change mitigation is inherent to landscape architecture; the challenge for us is to communicate our knowledge and skills relating to this clearly to clients, collaborators and local authorities and to push the agenda to the forefront in all the work we do. We are pursuing dialogues with project teams to establish how we can work as a collective to create carbon-reducing designs. We believe that the retention of existing habitats and soil, landscape-led spatial strategies, and the creation of carbon-capturing greenspaces should be paramount within projects. We consider this a crucial response to de carbonising the built environment Kirsty Knott, Senior Landscape Architect

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200 Broomielaw, Glasgow, G1 4RU Tel: 0141 220 2000 Email: stephen.bacon@atkinsglobal.com Web: www.atkinsglobal.com Twitter: @atkinsglobal Year of Incorporation: 1961 No. of total staff: 80 (UK Landscape Practice); Over 18,000 employees worldwide Atkins, a member of the SNC-Lavalin Group, is one of the world’s most respected design, engineering and project management consultancies.

Our Landscape Practice, which recently celebrated its 40th anniversary, works across a global network of studios, creating outstanding places that respond to the needs and resources of a contemporary world. Our Glasgow studio has a flair for creating imaginative and memorable spaces, blending the technical demands of a brief with the natural constraints of location. Our approach is centred on the creation of memorable and stimulating places that respond to site characteristics and have a strong identity and design aesthetic.

Social Distancing in School Grounds, UK Client: In partnership with Learning through Landscapes Atkins has recently supported the UK government to develop guidance on how to put in place measures which support social distancing. Many of our clients, predominately local authorities, will be now looking to use this guidance and adapt their public spaces so that we can collectively begin to reopen our shops, businesses and public spaces safely.

However, our work doesn’t stop there. Over the past 40 years, Atkins’ Landscape Architects have designed and overseen the construction of a huge range of educational environments from pre-school to University level, and we recognised that we had a responsibility to support our schools to allow them to recover as we emerge from lockdown.

Our practice includes members of Learning through Landscapes’ Accredited Network, who develop specialised advice and ideas for schools, early learning and childcare to develop their outdoor spaces.

The Network is exploring the issues around social distancing in schools, ‘bubble management’, access and egress, space utilisation and ideas for temporary learning and play outdoors. Atkins have contributed the first ‘advice poster’ in this initiative, looking at social distancing in school grounds.

This guidance sits alongside our strategic advice for all our clients, helping them to ‘reopen, recover and reimagine’ their spaces.

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Sovereign House, 158 West Regent Street, Glasgow, G2 4RL Tel: 0141 222 9780 Email: hello@lda-design.co.uk Web: www.lda-design.co.uk Twitter: @LDADesign Year of Incorporation: 1979 No. of total staff: 160 Recent Projects & Awards: • 2020 – Ravelin Sports Centre, University of Portsmouth BREEAM Awards 2020: Winner, Public Sector Project, Design Stage • 2019 – George Street New Town, Edinburgh Winner, ACE Strategic Planning & Placemaking Champion Healthy Streets Awards Joint winner, Proposal of the Year • 2019 - Dunkeld Road with Perth & Kinross Council Healthy Streets Awards Joint winner, Proposal of the Year

Reclaim: Retain: Remain COVID-19 has highlighted the gulf in social and spatial equality.

With access to nature being vital for wellbeing and especially so for people facing challenges in their lives, the pandemic has led people to reclaim public routes and spaces within their locale.

With an increased number of vehicles back on the road and life, for many, beginning to return to a new ‘normal’, we have a short window of opportunity to ensure that the social and environmental benefits of rediscovered places are retained through and beyond this period of readjustment.

Many towns and cities are creating temporary active travel routes and widening footways to facilitate social distancing and active travel. However, the future of our lives outdoors should not simply be defined by getting from A to B but should include continuing to occupy the spaces between.

For us, design is a social endeavour: creating places for people.

We will support and empower citizens to reclaim, retain and remain in their outdoor spaces; seeking opportunities to help protect, improve and nurture the inclusive outdoors they need.

Instagram: @ReclaimRetainRemain #ReclaimRetainRemain

• 2019 – West End Project with Camden Council NLA Award Public Spaces Winner, Unbuilt • 2019- The Pineapples Awards for Place Winner, Future Place • 2019 - Wembley Park Gardens Trust Award Winner, Sharing Landscapes • 2019 – Milner Square LGN Street Design Awards Winner, Children’s Play • 2018 - UCL East Planning Awards: Highly Commended, Stakeholder Engagement in Planning • 2018 - Alto Apartments, Wembley RESI Awards 2018: Winner, Development of the Year • 2018 - Brompton Cemetery Museum + Heritage Awards 2018: Winner, Restoration or Conservation • 2018 - Big Data Institute, University of Oxford RIBA South East Award 2018 Winner

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LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE

37 Otago Street, Glasgow G12 8JJ Tel: 0141 334 9595 Email: glasgow@landuse.co.uk 3rd Floor, Atholl Exchange, 6 Canning Street, Edinburgh EH3 8EG Tel: 0131 202 1616 Email: edinburgh@landuse.co.uk Web: landuse.co.uk Twitter: @LUCtweeting Year of Incorporation: 1966 No. of total staff: 186 LUC is an award-winning environmental consultancy providing planning, impact assessment, landscape design, ecology and geospatial services to a wide range of public and private sector clients. We are a team of over 180 skilled professionals, united by a determination to achieve sustainable development. We are passionate about the power of good planning and landscape design; working to improve the lives of communities across the UK since our very first project over 50 years ago. Especially with the current climate emergency in mind, we care about the legacy we leave and hope to make a real difference through the work we do.

Recent Awards: 2020 • Civic Trust Award, University of Northampton’s Waterside Campus 2019 • Family Friendly Working Scotland, Best for Flexible Recruitment • RTPI Planning Consultancy of the Year 2019 • East Midlands Property Dinner Awards, University of Northampton’s Waterside Campus, Construction Project of the Year • Scottish Green Energy Awards, Canna Renewable Energy and Electrification 2018 • LABC Central Awards, Wycombe Abbey Boarding Houses • BusinessGreen Leaders Awards, Brechfa Forest West Wind Farm, Renewable Energy Project of the Year • Civic Voice Design Awards, Calverley Adventure Grounds • Scottish Design Awards, Claypits Masterplan URBAN REALM SUMMER 2020 URBANREALM.COM

Above BioQuarter Central Square Right BioQuarter Concept visual IMAGES ©LUC

Edinburgh BioQuarter Masterplan Client: BioQuarter Partners LUC is working collaboratively with Oberlanders Architects and the wider design team to develop the Edinburgh BioQuarter Masterplan. This will deliver Edinburgh’s first Health Innovation District: a vibrant mixed-use urban quarter focussed around world-leading medicine and life science innovation.

LUC is driving the Placemaking Principles and a vision for a higher density, mixed use, sustainable quarter. Our design will respond directly to its unique context; including the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh and linkages to the emerging Little France Park and established neighbouring communities. The focus is to provide a connected neighbourhood both physically, visually and socially through active uses and a prioritised pedestrian and cyclist experience. We are currently testing the scale and form of the public realm in order to most sensitively respond to the city context and human experience.

Whilst urban in form, the BioQuarter provides an excellent opportunity to support the wider green infrastructure as a wildlife ‘stepping-stone’ habitat. Our approach incorporates sustainable urban drainage, pocket parks and wildlife corridors to provide a sustainable, resilient and ecologically rich masterplan.

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Codebase Stirling, 8-10 Corn Exchange Road, Stirling FK8 2HX Tel: 01786 446446 Email: sheena@raeburnfarquharbowen.com Web: raeburnfarquharbowen.com Twitter: @rfblandscape Year of Incorporation: 2011 No. of total staff: 10

IMAGES ŠFLOAT DIGITAL

Heart of the Campus, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow Client: University of Strathclyde.

The Heart of the Campus project for University of Strathclyde is a reimagining of a key green space in the centre of Glasgow.

Revitalising the existing Rottenrow Gardens and expanding into surrounding streets creating a vibrant, green, climate-resilient, inclusive and inspirational city centre space, that enhances the student experience.

A key element is improving physical accessibility and connectivity with a people-first approach offering a superior experience with restricted vehicle access and facilities and amenities such as bespoke seating, cycle hubs and covered shelters.

Other aspects include a covered green roof walkway, better surveillance, digital connectivity, smart lighting, renewable power and increased space for events.

The gardens will be transformed to become a showcase for the highest standards of environmental sustainability, resilience and biodiversity.

With integrity and critical thinking, we design a lasting legacy of high-quality habitats for people & nature. We guide the management of delightful places for those who live, work and play in them, because multifunctional landscapes are vital to a just, prosperous and sustainable nation.

We are experts in placemaking, climate resilient design, biodiversity enhancement, design of active travel networks and landscape regeneration.

Experienced in successful design and delivery of green infrastructure masterplanning, public realm, rural and visitor destinations, education, health, sensitive landscapes and LVIA. Registered practice of The Landscape Institute, accredited to CHAS, Constructionline and ISO9001:2015.

Recent Projects: Stratton, Inverness 4.5Ha park centrally located in new town under construction; Woodside Making Places landscape regeneration for Queens Cross Housing Association design stage; Queensland Gardens green infrastructure retrofit for Southside Housing Association going out to tender; Wanderings & Windings heritage trails for Inner Forth Landscape Initiative completed and in use; Meadowbank Masterplan Planning application under consideration; Heart of the Campus project for University of Strathclyde Planning application under consideration; Greenroof feasibility study for SNH completed; Signatory of UK Landscape Architects Declare Climate & Biodiversity Emergency petition, which is part of Construction Declares, a global petition movement uniting all strands of construction and the built environment.

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LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE

rankinfraser

landscape architecture

8 Darnaway Street, Edinburgh EH3 6BG Tel: 0131 226 7071 Email: mail@rankinfraser.com Web: rankinfraser.com Twitter: @rankinfraserLLP Year of Incorporation: 2008 No. of total staff: 9 We seek to design landscapes that are rooted in their cultural, social and spatial context regardless of scale. We believe in the timeless beauty of simplicity, often referencing Dieter Rams 10 Principles of Good Design; especially the maxim that, “Good design is as little design as possible”.

In the context of designing landscapes this translates into an approach that prioritises the importance of site along with a detailed and thorough understanding of the components that constitute the character of the place. Building upon this research and understanding we seek to combine a tectonic approach that focuses on careful material selection and detailing with a strategic understanding of the wider landscape character.

Recent Projects & Awards: • Scottish Design Awards Landscape/ Public Realm 2019 Winner Kesson Court • Scottish Design Awards Masterplanning 2019 Winner The Knab Masterplan • Landscape Institute Awards 2019 Finalist Western Harbour Masterplan • AJ Architecture Awards 2019 Finalist The Knab Masterplan • AJ Retrofit Awards 2018 Winner Dunbar Battery • Scottish Design Awards 2018 Winner City of Glasgow College City Campus • Landscape Institute Awards 2018 Highly Commended Dunbar Battery • AJ Architecture Awards 2018 Finalist City of Glasgow College City Campus • Scottish Civic Trust Awards 2018 Commended Dunbar Battery • Civic Trust Awards 2018 Regional Finalist Dunbar Battery • Scottish Design Awards 2017 Winner Fasque Estate Masterplan • AJ Architecture Awards 2017 Winner Dunbar Battery • AR New into Old Awards 2017 Shortlisted Dunbar Battery URBAN REALM SUMMER 2020 URBANREALM.COM

Strawberry Field Garden, Liverpool In 2012 The Salvation Army began a project to create a new training centre and museum on the site of Strawberry Field, the site of a Victorian children’s home. It was in these grounds which a young John Lennon played as a child, eventually immortalising the place in the song ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’. Julia Baird, Lennon’s sister said, “as children we all have somewhere that’s a bit ours, a bit special...it seems that this was John’s special place’.

Central to the client’s brief was the transformation of the grounds into a garden serving as an extension of the internal exhibition, an external productive space for the young people of the training centre, as well as a peaceful contemplative woodland space for public use.

The existing wooded character of the site is retained through the protection of existing trees through which new pathways snake, negotiating the site’s topography. The historic Victorian House’s lawn is brought back to life, providing open space for events or informal gathering, and site-won pieces of stone from the original house are repurposed as benches throughout the garden. An assortment of features are also incorporated within the garden including the original red gates and two timber woodland shelters.

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CONNECTING KINGUSSIE

Borne originally from the Cycle Friendly Kingussie Project, the Connecting Kingussie Projects seeks to promote more accessible cycling and walking in the town. TGP were commissioned by the Kingussie Community Development Company to prepare detailed design proposals for Gynackgate at Gynack Park.

This project provides a direct link to Kingussie Primary School, as well as improvements to Gynack Park with new seating and new public realm plaza where locals can host and promote community events.

Support has been provided by Sustrans Places for Everyone programme with the project to serve as a hub as a part of National Cycle Network Route 7 and the recently extended Speyside Way. The Gynack Gate project is now moving towards the implementation phase and will be the first community-led Places for Everyone funded project to be delivered in Scotland. TGP are also preparing wider public realm proposals at Spey Street and Newtonmore Road as part of the Connecting Kingussie Project which will create safer walking and cycling environment and improve the quality of the town centre environment. www.cyclefriendlykingussie.org/

Email: info@tgp.uk.com Web: www.tgp.uk.com

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COMPUTER AIDED DESIGN LESLIE HOWSON

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IN THIS SECOND URBAN REALM ARTICLE ON COMPUTER AIDED DESIGN (CAD) LESLIE HOWSON CALLS FOR BROADER ADOPTION OF 3D MODELLING WITHIN THE PLANNING SYSTEM. IS IT NOW TIME FOR LOCAL AUTHORITIES TO MANDATE FOR GREATER ADOPTION?

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COMPUTER AIDED DESIGN

The most effective way to communicate architectural and urban design proposals is undoubtedly interactive CAD modelling. The process of obtaining permission to build can be long and complex, often involving several abortive planning submissions and much time and resources spent by professionals and planning departments which, especially for cash strapped local authorities, is an ever-growing problem.

We all experience the world in three dimensions, yet most planning submissions are presented using two-dimensional drawn information supplemented by reports and design statements. Planning officers pouring over submissions have to interpret mostly flat information three-dimensionally, whilst in many cases not having actual 3D imagery in front of them. Whilst planning officers are in general trained for that task and under delegated powers can make an informed judgment, most larger projects ultimately go before planning committees consisting largely of laypersons untrained in design.

There are suggestions in certain quarters of the planning system, that councillors, community councils and even some planning officers and reporters, should receive design training to better equip them to make informed judgements URBAN REALM SUMMER 2020 URBANREALM.COM

about what is put before them. Surely, the clearer the information submitted, the easier it is for the decision-makers to carry out their role, leaving no room for ambiguities or need to interpret the nature of the design proposals.

The design process starts with initial concept sketches, developed to a final design and then submitted to planning for approval before building can commence. The quality of design set against the site context within which those proposals are to be built is ultimately what is important.

CAD drawings, usually still views, are included in many larger development proposals but are not as yet mandatory within the Scottish planning system. Yet there is little doubt

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Previous page - Modelling work is vital for communicating intent in place planning, consultations and submissions Above - Local authorities are now obliged to integrate place-making within their development plans

that such views and models make for a quicker and clearer understanding of what is being proposed. Unfortunately, usage is still mostly confined to the post-final approvals stage with a focus on building information modelling (BIM). This prioritises the build process, rather than the pre-planning, consultation and submission stages, where its use can be just as relevant a means of communication.

The usual reasons given by planning authorities for not insisting on submissions being in a 3D format of any kind, let alone CAD, is that such a requirement would be an unreasonable expense to impose on applicants – but this is a misconception. CAD modelling can be especially beneficial in

place planning, a key feature of the new Scottish Planning Bill which involves extensive communication with communities and planning authorities. The Scottish Government is urging local authorities to integrate placemaking within their local development plans and decision-making processes and this is a major driver for better communication between developers, planners and communities.

David Wood of Planning Aid Scotland (PAS), a place and active citizenship charity, said: “PAS supports in principle the use of 3D modelling and indeed other new technologies for making it clear to communities and in a visual and easily understandable way what new development is being >

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COMPUTER AIDED DESIGN

Left - New developments such as this Hawkins/Brown hotel can be brought to life before a brick is laid Right - The pedestrian experience can be presented with photorealism as here at the Tradeston waterfront

proposed, be it a planning application, pre-application proposal planning committee or any other relevant scenario.

If the technology can be mainstreamed within architectural and planning practice, this should be a positive for everyone.�

A recent questionnaire sent by Urban Realm to 19 local planning authorities revealed support for wider use of 3D modelling within the planning process. Whilst the percentage of submissions made for planning consent in such a manner is currently low and authorities do not insist on it, almost all agreed that greater use (including virtual reality) would help communicate proposals to councillors and the general public.

The consensus amongst those responsible for submitting planning applications and the planning authorities responsible for issuing planning permissions appears to support more 3D modelling in the planning system. However, the use of the latest forms of digital and CAD technology in the planning process has been slow to pick up.

The expectations of the general public are being raised by what they see in the technology media and even TV programmes showing homes using predictive visualisations and walkabouts. We must use the technology in the same way in the process of designing our urban places, towns and cities.

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The planning process is very much one of communication and consultation, the need for an understanding of proposals by those who have to be consulted and by those who will give consent in the public interest. Whilst adherence to regulatory factors threads through this process, the outcome is about built forms. Thus the clearest and earliest understanding about what is proposed is vital.

Arguably too much time is spent negatively interpreting the impact of what is proposed rather than in productive dialogue to hone proposals into an environmentally acceptable form. A city like Edinburgh needs constant investment and we will continue to see a largely developerled planning system enabling that. The use of computer modelling has the potential to diminish the seemingly constant and historic conflict between the development sector and established communities. Only when communities understand what is to be built will they be able to engage with the modelling process and influence what is built.

Place planning is probably going to have to take the place of development planning by councils thus heralding a more inclusive approach to urban development and better outcomes for communities and urban living. Urban design is a discipline, which encompasses architecture, planning

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and landscape. It involves the design of buildings, groups of buildings and spaces and is, in essence, the process of shaping the physical setting for life in cities, towns and villages. Above all, urban design is the art of making places through the interplay of buildings and spaces which are experienced in three dimensions.

We experience cities as pedestrians, not in a series of fixed views but `as a moving feast of emotions employing all our senses at the same time’. Assessing new proposals for development can only be done if those proposals are presented equivalently.

Designing in three dimensions requires the creation of a model, constructed piece by piece or by parametric means, where the components of the model are pre-specified and then assembled as opposed to being drawn. Autodesk’s Revit is an example of primarily parametric based software, with the model being built in components each having specific and editable attributes. This is excellent for BIM but not necessary or convenient for concept design, pre-planning or context modelling. SketchUp is a more affordable option for most architects and is ideally suited for the planning process.

Jamie Ogston, owner and director of SketchUp partner SEE-It 3D, commented: “The SketchUp model can be viewed

and investigated at any stage and with the possibility of the viewer interacting with it. The model can be modified in several ways in response to desirable changes at the viewer’s request. Thus for planning purposes, whether tabled during the dialogue between architect and planner or between the architect and the general public, it is the ideal tool.”

There are also dedicated packages providing city information software solutions for exploring, testing and communicating urban master plans. Some use a palette of standard building types and urban typologies. Others have been created for testing large-scale housing options, which can be demonstrated to planning authorities. Some planning departments are actively involved in these design processes but this is not always the case. However, whether involved or not, what is important is that planning officers should be able to view and interact with such models to influence planning outcomes.

Robert Stringer, owner and director of digital construction data specialists Joanna James, notes: “Often architectural practices can spot a tricky project way before submitting plans. Purchasing a 3D model at pre-application stage alleviates holdups and can save the practice and their client in associated costs of resubmissions. Joanna James >

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COMPUTER AIDED DESIGN

3d modelling is a key tool to aid understanding of complex proposals, sites and context

recognises more councils throughout the UK are turning to 3D models as a means of supporting planning applications.

That said, a common objection has been that planning authorities don’t have traditional software such as CAD and SketchUp to be able to make sense of 3D models. However, we can output, if necessary, via a web-based platform which is as simple to use as Google Street view – no specialist software required, meaning 3D models are for everybody.�

The lockdown has forced home working and certain aspects of this like virtual meetings between multi-home offices, are now an accepted and viable daily feature of business life, so much so that this new intensified form of communication is proving its worth and looks likely to be retained. The advent of interactive environments, often referred to as virtual worlds, which allow the observer/ participant to interact with or experience the virtual environment and modify it before making it a reality will accelerate this process further.

Planning departments are still managing to function online and combining this with shared virtual presentations of development proposals using CAD technology can resolve issues of social distancing and geographical separation in the short term but may also prove to be beneficial and URBAN REALM SUMMER 2020 URBANREALM.COM

convenient for applicants and planning staff in the long-term, especially if remote and home working continues as seems likely. Thus the future for planning authorities might be more shared visualisation meetings at key stages of the planning process shared by committees via video.

Whether cash strapped local planning authorities will make 3D modelling a mandatory part of the planning process in the aftermath of Covid-19 remains to be seen. This will require investment in software and training but that will be outweighed by greater efficiency resulting from improved communication. Pre modelling of our cities is already commonplace but less so is using those same models to test development proposals and to enable a more structured approach to changes and expansion of urban areas and the growth of our cities.

It is perhaps a matter of education and awareness of what is available to both architects, planners and engineers but also to city planning authorities who can feel reasonable in expecting major proposals, in particular, to be submitted within contextual models. What is certain is that within the planning process, communication is all, and 3D modelling is unquestionably the most essential communication tool available.

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A SELECTION OF COMMENTS FROM LOCAL AUTHORITY PLANNERS IN RESPONSE TO URBAN REALM AND URBAN DESIGN GROUP SURVEYS

» I’m a principle city designer at Birmingham City

Council. We have our own VR suite, with a model for the city centre and its environs. All major applications in the city centre are asked to submit a model (is on the validation list) as part of a pre-app / app to help assess the development proposal. We also have 3D techs we use Revit & 3D max to help the city present / illustrate master plans across the city. We also use sketchup regularly on site specific studies or to assess development proposals. «

» I work for Bristol City Council modelling the

applications that involves much mass housing to enable the planning officers to understand the impact of such application on the surrounding environments. It would be better for agents/ developers/planning officers and the public if these applications were only deemed acceptable with 3D modelling. «

» I work for Bristol City Council modelling the

applications that involves much mass housing to enable the planning officers to understand the impact of such application on the surrounding environments. It would be better for agents/ developers/planning officers and the public if these applications were only deemed acceptable with 3D modelling. «

» There is increasing use of BIM modelling in the

building warrant process, limited to large, complex developments but it’s use is increasing and it’s benefits to building construction is likely to trickle down to smaller projects. Use in the planning system is likely to follow quickly in tandem. We very much encourage the use of 3D models as part of design statements in major or more complex applications as well as those in conservation areas or other sensitive sites. In most cases agents are happy to provide these in such circumstances. 3D model images help enormously with public and elected member understanding of proposals. « Clackmannanshire Council

» In addition to 3D

modelling of individual developments, augmented reality or 3D modelling including the surrounding built environment is more useful. « Orkney Council

» I think the use of 3D CAD

modelling information would assist with communication between SBC Officers and applicants/agents but do not think it would necessarily improve communication. This would be particularly helpful as part of Major application submissions or more complex Local developments. « Scottish Borders Council

» Dundee Council has an award

winning track record of using 3d modelling as part of the planning application and master planning process (Scottish Government Awards for Quality in Planning). We do encourage, but don’t insist on the use of 3d modelling to support applications. We and our elected members recognise the benefit of it but we do see challenges in terms of us and customers accessing more advanced 3d output i.e. virtual reality. So in brief we are keen to see more use of 3d modelling to improve engagement for all scales of development. «

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SUSTAINABLE LIVING MARIE DE BRYAS

WHILE PRIORITIES HAVE SHIFTED BY NECESSITY IN RECENT MONTHS THE CLIMATE CRISIS HASN’T GONE AWAY. MARIE DE BRYAS EXPLORES HOW NEW APPROACHES TO LOW CARBON CONSTRUCTION IN THE UK AND EUROPE COULD PROVIDE A BREATH OF FRESH AIR AHEAD OF THE POSTPONED COP-26 CLIMATE CONFERENCE.

© ANDREW LEE

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The Woodside multi-storey flats represent the gold standard in retrofitting

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SUSTAINABLE LIVING

In November 2021, Glasgow is due to welcome the postponed 26th session of the Conference of the Parties (the COP 26), a discussion organised to assess progress in dealing with climate change. As we know, buildings are already responsible for 40% of all CO2 emissions, and this number is predicted to rise as the global building floor area doubles by 2060.

With over 900 architects and most architecture schools that have declared climate emergency, we ask ourselves what is being done and what can the construction industry do to meet the needs of our society without breaching the earth’s ecological boundaries. Since housing accounts for a fifth of the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions, it feels like a good place to start. More specifically, a particular focus on social housing seems relevant, as some evidence proves that social housing leads the private sector in innovative, energy-efficient house building.

Firstly, before we consider how to design new buildings, we should, where possible, prioritise retrofitting our existing houseing stock. As well as being a loss in built heritage and culture, demolition is often energy intensive and wasteful. The government has a role to play in this crisis as the decision to demolish a building is often influenced by the difference in VAT between new build and refurbishing. Indeed, whilst much demolition and new build attract zero rate VAT, most repairs and maintenance work are charged 20%. A harmonisation in VAT could potentially result in a decrease in demolition across the nation.

But architects play an important role too. Frederic Druot, winner of the Mies van der Rohe Award in 2020 (along with Lacaton and Vassal and Christophe Hutin) for the transformation of 530 dwellings in Bordeaux argues you can “spend less to do more” with retrofitting. Most of his projects consist of refurbishing existing social housing towers by replacing their existing façades with prefabricated winter gardens and balconies. This significantly improves the thermal performance of a building whilst improving the residents’ daylight, views, and increasing their space with an extra 10sqm for the same rent. “We can live in the winter garden, but we can’t live in the insulation” notes Druot. In addition, the prefabrication methods allow for the existing residents to stay home during the entire refurbishment process. According to the architects, adapting and refurbishing existing facilities can save up to 50% of the cost of demolishing and re-building an entire new design.

In Scotland, Collective Architecture offers a great example of an ambitious social housing refurbishment project, Woodside multi-storey flats in Glasgow. The three 1960s towers were recently transformed to meet Passivhaus EnerPHit standards for retrofit. By reducing heating demand by 80%, the scheme alleviates fuel poverty for its residents. Unfortunately, both projects look very generic and fail to respond to their specific contexts, but they prove that we can often do a lot with what we already have, and that sustainable designs can often provide an economic and social solution.

With over half of Scottish housing deemed in a state of URBAN REALM SUMMER 2020 URBANREALM.COM

Goldsmith Street, Norwich, proves that Passivhaus housing can be delivered at scale

“critical disrepair”, we have the opportunity and the necessity to have a big impact using existing domestic dwellings. Scottish tenements, representing over 40% of the housing stock, are the biggest challenge, due to their complexity of physical structure and multi-owner interest. Having nationally agreed housing standards that owners must adhere to could reduce the number of houses needing repairs.

As retrofitting isn’t always an option, we must also develop strategies for new construction. Two main approaches can be used to limit the impact of a building: to reduce either the operational or the embodied energy and carbon footprint of a project. As we know, most low-embodied energy materials also have the benefit to improve indoor air-quality and health. Crosslaminated timber (CLT) technologies now make it possible to reduce significantly the use of higher-embodied energy materials such as concrete or steel. This is encouraged by the Scottish Government, which is doing its part by pledging to plant 33 million trees by 2025. Once again, it is interesting to look across the channel to see ambitious French initiatives.

Indeed, France is witnessing a whole new generation of developers committed to building greener buildings. Woodeum, one of the market leaders in CLT construction, is in the process of delivering the world’s tallest timber framed tower in Bordeaux.

Designed by French architect Jean-Paul Viguier, the project, called Hyperion, will create 82 apartments and offices. In addition to being a low embodied building method, the use of CLT for walls allows for flexibility inside the homes, allowing the project to evolve through time. Although the construction cost of CLT buildings is on average 1% more than traditional buildings, the project delivery can be done six months earlier than for an equivalent project, thanks to off-site prefabrication.

In the UK, the Construction Scotland Innovation Centre is >

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Hyperion Tower rises to the challenge of CLT construction in France

Will Rudd Davidson Ltd Creative Civil & Structural Engineering Our Creativity will help you realise what’s possible www.ruddconsult.com Yes We Can! One of our favourite phrases David Shrigley’s ‘Really Good’ Sculpture, Trafalgar Square London: One of our favourite projects

Photograph by Powderhall Bronze

SUSTAINABLE LIVING

© ANDREW LEE

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What it lacks in looks the Woodside multi-storey refit makes up for in energy efficiency

leading progress in the CLT area. Thanks to vacuum technology, since 2018 it has been able to produce, panelson a commercial scale for the first time in the UK. Vacuum production is particularly interesting as it is fairly flexible in scale as opposed to hydraulic presses, which makes bigger panels exponentially more expensive. Several projects had already been using CLT technology in Scotland, most notably the Yoker tower in Glasgow, but all had to manufacture their CLT panels outside of the UK. This new factory, along with an increase in raw material, should made it easier for Scottish designers to use the technology with locally sourced wood.

The second solution is to reduce the demand for energy in a building. The current regulations are, according to the RIBA 2030 Climate Challenge, an unsustainable practice. Therefore, we can’t rely on current legislation and the responsibility is put on architects, if they can, to do more than the minimum required. Another key problem in the UK is the gap between the design intention and what is delivered, in particular in terms of energy use, ventilation and indoor air quality, as well as thermal comfort and overheating. We run the risk of meeting theoretical targets instead of actual ones. This problem could be solved by increasing the number of council staff to avoid departments being over stretched, allowing for a better involvement throughout projects.

It seems delivering a PassivHaus building is one solution, although not the only one. The method has been in place for decades and is quality assured. The 2019 Stirling Prize Winner, the Goldsmith Street project, situated in the Norwich City Centre,

proves that it is possible to deliver a large scale PassivHaus housing project. The project is composed of 100 sunny, light filled new homes with very low fuel bills of approximately £150 per year. However, building to PassivHaus standards comes at an initial cost. According to the PassivHaus Trust, “The current best practice is at 9% extra cost. However, Exeter City Council, with nearly 9 years’ experience, are now building PassivHaus at a premium of just 8%”. This remains a significant cost difference.

In the midst of a recession, we could run the risk of having sustainability and carbon emissions deprioritised in favour of smaller upfront costs.

Unfortunately, the UK does not yet have a robust method of calculation for a combined embodied and operational carbon.

It seems a simple test would help to consider the two methods hand in hand.

As often, the solution remains in designing well crafted, socially and environmentally mindful designs. Although architects have a big role to play in this ongoing crisis, developers and governments should take on some of the responsibility too.

By shifting our demolition culture to a careful retrofitting ethos, and by building low embodied and operational energy projects, the construction industry could potentially have a sizeable impact in the battle against climate change.

We have made a lot of progress in developing technologies and changing habits in light of climate change. As the Covid-19 pandemic is currently forcing us to stop polluting the air and stay home, we could use this time of recess to rethink our current ways of doing business and develop more sustainable practices.

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BRICK REVIVAL MARK CHALMERS

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A BRICK RENAISSANCE HAS SEEN THIS MOST VERSATILE OF MATERIALS CEMENT ITS POSITION AS THE DEFAULT SPECIFICATION BUT HOW IS THE INDUSTRY TOOLING UP TO KEEP PACE OF DEMAND FOR BOTH QUANTITY AND QUALITY? MARK CHALMERS LAYS OUT THE CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES.

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BRICK REVIVAL

Left - Inside the main brickmaking building at Mayfield Brickworks Right - Detail of a Hoffman kiln

The late Isi Metzstein of Gillespie, Kidd & Coia once remarked that brickwork is twice handmade: once in the brickmaker’s mould and for a second time when laid by the bricklayer. That’s a rather romantic view of the brickmaking industry, which in the 1960’s could still claim to be a traditional craft, employing time-served brick setters and kiln burners.

Brick making in Scotland has changed radically since then. Even twenty years ago, there were around a dozen operational works. You may remember some of their names: Wemyss Brick in Methil, Bothwell Park Brickworks, the Etna and Mayfield brickworks of GISCOL which became Caradale Brick, Raeburn Brick, Centurion Brick at Cadder and Tannochside, Cruden Bay Brickworks in Aberdeenshire, Cults Brick and also Kirkforthar Brick in Fife, and Inchcoonans in Perthshire which became Errol Brick.

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A couple of decades before that was the heyday of small independent brickworks, which Metzstein may have had in mind when he made his remark. The Scottish Brick Corporation alone own once had 17 works. Times change.

A decade ago, during the aftermath of the financial crash of 2008, I watched as the number of working brickworks in Scotland shrank from single figures to only one, Raeburn Brick at Blantyre.

Photographing those disappearing brickworks became my photographic project for the next couple of years. The photos prompt the question, what happened? And if the shape of the Scottish brick industry is different now, does that mean brick is a less or more sustainable material than before? There are a few things to consider before you can answer that. There’s the raw material, the production process, how the brick gets to site and how it contributes to a building’s performance.

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First off, brick is universally recognised as a sustainable material. For example, brick has a Building Research Establishment (BRE) Ecopoint rating of just 1.1, and all the brick cladding specifications listed in the BRE’s Green Guide achieve the highest (A+) rating. Brick-built buildings typically have low thermal transmittance and high thermal mass, so brick construction can help to reduce energy in use, although of course the brick’s own embodied energy also needs to be taken into account.

Longevity is another plus point: bricks are considered to have a lifespan of at least 150 years, with little or no maintenance required. When they finally reach the end of their life, they can potentially be re-used especially if they were laid with lime mortar, and failing that they can be crushed and recycled for aggregate. In that sense, bricks contribute to the “circular economy”.

However, the catch lies in which particular brick you

specify. Brick was traditionally made close to the source of its raw materials and also close to its market. The predominantly local supply network for brick, concrete and other masonry products means that delivery distances from builder’s merchant to site are short. It doesn’t make sense to haul a relatively low value, bulky and heavy commodity product over great distances – although in recent years that’s what has begun to happen.

As Scottish brickworks closed, facing bricks have been imported from down south, the Low Countries and even Scandinavia. Petersen Brick of Sønderborg in southern Denmark, with their beautifully-produced marketing material, and a range of subtly coloured and textured clinker bricks, have become the brick of choice among design-led architects. However, they come at a cost, both financial and environmental.

Transport costs, and the associated CO2 emissions, are >

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BRICK REVIVAL

now a real issue. Speaking to Michael McGowan, Group Sustainability Manager at Ibstock, the average delivery distance for Ibstock’s bricks is 62 miles. With only one manufacturer left in Scotland, all other brick products come from England, plus a small but growing amount from Europe. Before Covid-19 struck, around 30 to 40 million bricks per month came into the UK from EU and Non-EU countries, against brick production in Britain running at around 160 million, which equates to two billion bricks a year. Anything not manufactured in the UK inevitably has a much higher carbon footprint, which makes it less sustainable.

Making fired bricks is energy intensive: kilns are fired URBAN REALM SUMMER 2020 URBANREALM.COM

for long periods at around 1000 deg.C. The fuel nowadays is usually natural gas, in the past it was coal. In traditional Scottish brickmaking, the calorific content of oil shale or colliery blaes helped to reduce firing times, although traditional brickworks with coal- and gas oil-fired Hoffman kilns were inefficient and generated more air pollution than their modern cousins.

As an example, Caradale Brick’s Mayfield Brickworks at Carluke was increasingly unusual by the turn of the 21st century in that it made bricks using shale clays recovered by reworking old colliery bings: the shale contributed to a harder and more durable brick. When it was built in the 1950’s, there were a couple of dozen other brickworks

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Left - A worked out clay pit at Etna Brickworks, Armadale Right - Deep inside the clay mills building

within a few miles’ radius, and most of them also used coal and oil shale waste. By the time it closed in 2011, it was the last of its kind.

By contrast, most modern brickworks take their clay from a quarry next door, minimising the transport of raw materials. They typically have gas-fired tunnel kilns which are much more energy efficient and burn more cleanly than the old-style Hoffman kilns. In fact, it takes 65% less energy to produce a brick today compared to the 1970’s, and a third less energy compared to the 1990’s. That’s the counter argument to having lots of small, local brickworks dotted around the country as we once did.

In Scotland, the raw material for brickmaking was

often a by-product of other activities. In 1988, L.A.W. Holdings opened a brand new brick factory at Tannochside in Uddingston, which was later run by Ibstock Brick. The firm was headed up by opencast mining entrepreneurs Ian Liddell and John Weir: during the 1980’s their opencast at Lugar produced huge quantities of fireclay in addition to the coal. Tannochside was highly automated and was the most efficient brickworks in Britain when it opened: only eight men per shift were required to operate it.

Efficiency is still critical, especially when it comes to energy costs and emissions. As natural gas costs rise and we move away from burning hydrocarbons, the ceramics industry has investigated the electrification of kilns, but >

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BRICK REVIVAL

Above - The Dehacker machine at the heart of Tannochside Brickworks, Uddingston Right - Scotland is now left with just one surviving brickworks

electricity costs per kWhr were historically 5.5 times more expensive that gas, and at the moment that figure is around 9 times higher.

The ceramics industry has a sustainability working group looking at alternatives such as renewables, principally the so-called green gases such as syngas and biogas which can be produced on site at brickworks. Long term, the gas network in the UK is aiming to supply 90% low-carbon gases by 2050, and meantime a UK Government project called HYNET hopes to feed 10 to 20% hydrogen into the gas network in certain regions of the UK by 2025.

Emissions are a parallel issue, especially at older brickworks. For example, London Brick’s works at Stewartby in Bedfordshire was once the largest in the world. Hanson Brick (later to become Forterra) made a major investment there in 2005-7 in an attempt to reduce sulphur dioxide emissions, but the brickworks closed soon afterwards in 2008. Meantime, the new brickworks which Hanson built at Measham in Leicestershire, on the site of the old Red Bank fireclay factory, can make 100 million bricks a year with a staff of 28. Latterly Stewartby needed 220 people to do the same.

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Waste is less of an issue in modern brickmaking, because it’s possible to crush and re-use any waste products in the brick-making process. Michael McGowan of Ibstock noted that on average their products contain 12% re-cycled or secondary material, which reduces waste and extends the use of valuable clay resources.

All the major brickmakers have looked at making unfired clay products, which of course have much lower embodied energy than fired bricks. Errol Brick went out of business in 2008, but just before that they developed an unfired brick called the ECO brick. It was a fully-recyclable earth brick and mortar system, claimed to be the first of its kind manufactured in commercial form in the UK. It was designed to fit in between wall studding as a non load-bearing component, forming part of a breathable wall which was finished with a clay plaster.

Errol Brick’s managing director Andrew Clegg, a great evangelist for Scottish brickmaking, explained on a factory visit I made to Inchcoonans brickworks that the ECO brick was made from post-glacial alluvial clay, sand and sawdust, all taken from local sources. But not even the development of “green” bricks was enough to save Errol Brick.

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However, Raeburn Brick at Blantyre survive as Scotland’s last working brickworks – and a few months ago, Jimmy Raeburn was interviewed on Radio Scotland’s “Good Morning Scotland” programme. He noted that his brick factory in Blantyre produces around 18 million bricks a year, 40% of which are exported to England. The current factory opened in 1985 and he made the point that its carbon footprint is lower than traditional brickworks, thanks to investment in energy efficiency and automation.

By contrast, in 2012 I visited Etna Brickworks at Bathville which had been run until closure by Caradale Traditional Brick. As I took my last photo of the day, a figure walked in through a hole in the wall where a large door had been knocked clean off its hinges. Despite the sea of liquid mud, he wore a pair of pristine white trainers.

We started talking: he’d worked here until the brickworks shut in September 2011, and had come back for a last look. He explained that Raeburn Brick had bought up some of Etna’s equipment, such as the pan mills and carousel and also some of Caradale’s

trademarks such as “Pentland”. He took a final look at the devastation, turned to me, and his parting words were, “I’m going to get up the road afore I start cryin…”

Afterwards, I reflected about the state of the industry. While brick is an increasingly sustainable material, parts of the Scottish brickmaking industry didn’t manage to sustain themselves profitably.

Economic sustainability today is down to the construction of vast, highly automated brick factories such as Forterra’s plant at Measham, and Ibstock Brick’s Eclipse factory in Leicestershire – each of which make around 100 million bricks a year.

The brick may have moved a long way from Isi Metzstein’s artisanal product, but is there a simple answer to sustainable specification? Bricks use a natural raw material, clay, which is usually sourced close to the works. The firing process increasingly uses greener types of energy, but transportation is a major factor. It makes sense to “Buy Local” wherever we can, and if not Scottish brick, then brick sourced from the UK. More exotic products from the Continent may look alluring, but they have a large carbon footprint.

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LINOCUT ART JOHN GLENDAY

Catherall is most at home in his studio, literally, losing hours to the pursuit of finding fresh perspectives URBAN REALM SUMMER 2020 URBANREALM.COM

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THE ART OF LINOCUT PRINTMAKING HAS LONG FOUND FAVOUR AMONG ARTISTS AND ITS IDEALISED DESIGNS OFFER A READY MADE CANVAS TO SHOWCASE ARCHITECTURE IN A NEW LIGHT. URBAN REALM SPOKE WITH PAUL CATHERALL TO EXPLORE HOW THE MEDIUM IS SHIFTING ATTITUDES TOWARD BRUTALISM. Modernist architecture is being shown in a new light at the hands of artist Paul Catherall. A champion of both the medium and his home town of Coventry Catherall combines the two with uniquely stylised results.

The freelance artist is author of an exhibition of architectural prints documenting Coventry and London, now delayed to the summer, Catherall has deployed his twin passions from his home studio to great effect. Marrying drawing, carving and printing the technique straddles the boundary between art and architecture, but are all creative industries cut from the same cloth?

Addressing Urban Realm Catherall said: “I trained to be an illustrator but when I was at college, I sketched people. It’s a bit ironic that what I thought I was good at and what I wanted to do was quick reportage style sketching, almost like the courtroom drawings you see on the news. Years ago I saw a Sunday supplement article on war artists, not because I fancied going to war but because they followed troops and sketched.

I spent 78 years trying to be a figurative illustrator after graduating and I tried to fudge the sketch life drawing style into an illustration style and I came to a tipping point where I thought I’m not loving what I’m doing.”

Inspired by the dawn of a new millennium and a spate of grandiose architecture in London such as The Tate Modern, the >

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Left - Catherall bathes his subjects in bright blocks of primary colour to reflect the boundless optimism which powered a post-war building boom Right - Coventry Station offers first class travel to Miami Beach in this evocative image

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Millennium Bridge and the Millennium Dome Catherall finally came to understand that his talents would be best employed elsewhere, a realisation which came to a head during a pivotal holiday when Catherall decided to take matters into his own hands. “I was on holiday in San Francisco and there was an American illustrator called Michael Schwarb,” recalled Catherall.

“He’d done a set of travel poster illustrations for Fort Point, Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge and I thought you lucky bastard getting a commission like that. No one was going to commission me to do that so I started doing little prints myself.

“I can do linocuts at home with an old cast iron bookbinding press, all you need is a few tools and the lino itself.

If you haven’t got a press you can even use a spoon. I wanted to emulate old posters at home with a theme other than figures.

I’d always taken an interest in architecture at the Barbican and National Theatre but hadn’t thought of it as a subject matter.”

Drawn to the concentration, planning and sheer physicality of the manufacturing process Catherall distinguishes illustrative

work where you can dive straight in armed with nothing more than a pen and an idea. “You have to go methodically through the process and work out your composition”, notes Catherall.

“You go through a lot of careful planning before carving out the lino. Something graphic and simple can be harder to do than something complex.”

But how important is the medium to the ultimate message and can linocuts help sway public perception of Brutalism and Modernism as straight lines, grey concrete and decay? How can the style be represented in bold blocks of clean primary colours? “What comes to mind when you think of Brutalism is grey concrete on a rainy day when everything looks a bit grim and oppressive. I picture iconic Brutalist buildings in the sunshine with simplified lines translated into blocks, even though I love texture and grittiness. The mood is clear in my mind.

“If I’m going to do an image I always try to take and reference my photos. I always wait for strong light in the early >

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LINOCUT ART

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Left - Elephant and Castle shopping centre would never win a beauty pageant but Catherall finds unexpected moments to delight in its period signage Right - Rather than dodge the omnipresent grey of the National Gallery Catherall celebrates it

morning or late evening to get those strong shadows. Linoleum translates those clean lines directly, it’s a semi-abstraction.”

In communicating architecture to the public, does Catherall find Brutalism a tough sell? Can such work serve as a bridge between the professions? “I’m probably part of that whole generation who grew up with Modernism forming part of your childhood, it becomes embedded in your psyche a bit and you appreciate it in some way. It reminds you of your childhood and upbringing and some people become quite nostalgic about it because it’s been around for so long. Like mid-century furniture and design which has been back in vogue, Brutalism is tied in with that in a way that I see elements of new architecture taking large open spaces that are to be used rather than just looked at from a distance. The National Theatre was designed for people to congregate, it’s not just about what is going on inside.”

Asked whether there was a broader purpose to his art Catherall downplayed any overt narrative but conceded different interpretations may be possible at a subconscious level. “I don’t get involved in campaigns but I am a member of the 20th Century Society. I try and show off these buildings in the light they should be seen and bring out their best aspects.

These buildings were made with a sense of optimism and for the general public When the National Theatre was designed there was a lot of thought applied to attract more than just the middle classes, I like to think I’m promoting that. You’ve got to be into the prints that you’re creating or you’re not going to put your heart and soul into it.”

The relatively limited subject matter of Catherall’s work might be seen as a constraint but instead, the artist sees his laser focus as a strength, finding inspiration in endless detail and new angles to give a fresh take on buildings that have been photographed to death. “I’ve always been quite a tunnel vision guy from when I was young painting soldiers for hours on end.

Some would probably say it’smundane and boring but I could happily paint the National Theatre all year. I love the method.

“Artistic struggles are all well and good but can be exhausting. While you’re printing it almost always shows you how you could have done things differently. When I’ve done a print I want to do it again in a slightly different way. I could happily live off the Modernist icons of London forever.”

Having been preoccupied with London throughout his working life Catherall has begun to rediscover his upbringing, >

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LINOCUT ART

spurred by the designation of Coventry as UK City of Culture 2021. “My childhood from two to 14 was in Coventry”,says Catherall. “It impacted on me but it’s taken a long time for me to realise it. When I first moved to London finding places like Elephant & Castle shopping centre almost felt homely. I never knew why but now doing all the prints I realise it reminded me of my childhood. I suppose I had a relatively happy childhood.

We lived relatively near the centre. My teenage years in the mid-70s to earliest I was a little too young for the specials but I was a little Mod when the Jam were out and that had an impact on my early teenage years. It became ingrained in me.

“It’s only since leaving when people ask where are you from and they say ‘Oh god what a shit hole’. I slowly realised not everywhere was like that. I didn’t go around at the age of 14 admiring the modernist precinct; I just wanted to find a record shop. Now I can see how amazing it would have been in the late sixties when it was newly built and there was less traffic.

Elements of it are a modernist masterpiece with beautiful signage and well-detailed shops. The Festival of Britain style has been lost as elements are stripped away and you’re just left with the carcass. Not that I want everything preserved in aspic but all the details which made it so nice, and would now be appreciated, have gone.”

Coventry has proven itself a city which thrives on adversity, and so current events could provide a springboard for change, even with retail being among the hardest hit sectors.

Perversely, it is also likely to favour a make do and mend approach to the existing fabric rather than the scorched earth approach favoured during periods of rapid growth. Such a lowering of ambition may ultimately pan out with longerterm incremental improvements, which prove to be far more sustainable.

“The city architects were all left-leaning Labour guys who thought the city should be for the people,” Catherall continued.

“What I do fear is the great 50s and 60s architecture not being appreciated and saved in the way that it should be. I get the feeling that’s not part of the remit and everything has got to be brand new. All the forward-thinking, the largest pedestrianised shopping centre in Europe, it’s been forgotten and I fear that isn’t going to be shouted about. I think what did for Coventry was the 70’s when there was no money for upkeep. Everything was just left.”

Catherall believes the pending City of Culture accolade will focus attention on his hometown, thrusting it back into the limelight. “For years I’ve said I’m going to do Coventry but the prints take so long to do, a print is three or four months’ work. If no-one’s going to buy them, I can’t afford to do it.”

If a picture is worth a thousand words then Coventry’s pressing problems may be found in art, bringing colour to a grey place and arresting a gradual decline which can be far more insidious than an abrupt collapse.

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The Three Tuns mural is a rare decorative art commission for a 1960s retail development

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Alan Dunlop has likened drawing his family to herding polecats but his perseverance paid off URBAN REALM SUMMER 2020 URBANREALM.COM

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C I L ER SELF-ISOLATION HAS SHATTERED OLD HABITS AT A STROKE BUT HAS ALSO OPENED UP NEW OPPORTUNITIES AS ESTABLISHED NORMS BECOME DISTANT MEMORIES. IN THIS ENVIRONMENT, NECESSITY PROVES ITSELF TO BE THE MOTHER OF INVENTION AS WE ASK HOW ARCHITECTS ARE RESPONDING TO THE TWIN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL CHALLENGES IN STYLE. AS QUARANTINE MEASURES THROW DAILY LIFE INTO DISARRAY THE CURRENT CLIMATE IS PROVIDING OPPORTUNITIES FOR CHANNELLING PENT-UP CREATIVE ENERGIES AS ARCHITECTS ADAPT TO NEW WAYS OF WORKING.

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Brian McGinlay FRAIS RIBA Founding Director of McGinlay Bell

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I believe we are moving into a new way of working and I think for the better. For months now we have been reading about the ‘new’ normal, the office is dead, and all hail to a flexible working future. For us, we are not completely convinced. There are many advantages, but we are also acutely aware of the potential disadvantages of remote working. There are pitfalls such as a sense of social disconnection and negative issues around isolation, zoom fatigue, and mental exhaustion. So I think we will actively adopt and promote a balance of them all.

You could say a ‘blended’ approach.

As a practice we decided to move quickly to establish our new work pattern and homes offices. We couldn’t afford to wait on Boris. Fortunately for us, it was fairly straight forward to organise our infrastructure and software licenses needed across the six households - Essentially, we lifted our iMacs, plugged into our cloud server, and continued working.

Many ask should there be a rush to return to the way things were. I really don’t think so. As the weeks and months pass by, we have now moved on as a practice. We need to. We have to.

We are gaining better skills and have embraced technology.

Who knew of Zoom? As a practice we have been arguably too traditional in our methods of communication by phone, email, or organised meeting. Zoom & Teams has genuinely been breath of fresh air for our practice. I really can’t imagine the need to return to the days of walking across the city or travelling across the country for an hour meeting. Likewise, in terms of our industry, and as architects, I think we need to continue to lead the way and by more efficient means. I suppose if we don’t, the worry is our profession will soon be left behind.

At the start of the year McGinlay Bell were in the later stages of organising a move to a new office. It was time for us to move to bigger premises as literally the walls were falling in with stuff, mainly larger physical models. We have been rapidly growing out of our city centre basement for some time now and with one door window, the space was quite honestly taking its toll on our team’s state of mind and wellbeing. Our precovid new studio looked to accommodate better arrangement of desk space, suitable making space, and space for simple things like a separate meeting room. Thankfully, however, we

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didn’t sign the 3-year lease! This crisis still poses uncertainty but has given us time to reflect and has certainly changed our perspective of our methods of practice and, whether a good balance can be struck between home and office.

The government job retention scheme is an incredibleinitiative. Overnight a good number of our commercial office projects literally stopped long term due to the pandemic. The retention scheme has played a huge role in protecting the business and importantly, our team. With our core staff now all on furlough it is difficult for me to fully understand whether home working would be completely efficient and work for everyone. For us, we believe that the physical office will always play a crucial role and will remain the embodiment of our cultural practice. It may however look very different. We feel the physical office space holds value for cultural learning. It is our place of collaborative thought, resources, ideas, creative making, and a share and expression of varied skills sets. The loss of an office I feel would be detrimental to our practice but equally for our young practitioners who, more so than not, learn from observation and from passing conversations and encounters.

With potential imposed social distancing laws our latest thoughts have visualised the idea of a new place to come together, a ‘hub’ or a ‘workshop’ type environment versus the traditional office. It doesn’t need to be a large shinny office accommodating all. Many other creative industries have been embracing shared collaborative space for over a decade now.

Perhaps it is time for us to consider similar notions. We aren’t talking about hot-desking which arguably poses their own post-covid hygiene problems but more a hierarchical flexible space to facilitate many practice activities. It certain wouldn’t suit everyone so we will keep the option open to our staff.

Perhaps home working is a good place for head space and focused production where, the office becomes a focused place for creative conversation and social engagement.

In terms of the economy post-covid it’s fair to say we are all yet to see the full impact across our industry. We are seeing positive movements and some good will from our clients to continue and push forward on projects. This, for us, is encouraging. We are however undoubtedly going to be a hit

hard in the short-term, so we already are bracing ourselves for that. I constantly worry about our business, our staff, and the many students I teach at the University of Strathclyde. Part I & II Graduates are extremely important to our profession. They bring great energy, ideas and new skills which have been crucial to the growth of our practice. I feel for them, but I immediately think back to the 2008 downturn when Glasgow saw many fantastic graduates grab their own opportunity to self-initiate work and establish practice - Something which under our Dr Jonathan Charley’s tutelage he encouraged us all to pursue coming out of Strathclyde. More so than not architects are trained to be optimists. Graduates will need to remain openminded and patient in these times. Whether full-time, parttime, or freelance paid posts are made available, opportunities will come from practice and likewise from many other creative fields in which architectural students can also massively contribute to. We certainly can’t lose these talented students from our profession.

As we plan to get back to some sort normality, we look forward to establishing our new methods of practice. Our business model has and always will continue to remain fluid.

We constantly review our plans, but as a small office most of our time is focused on the immediate future and delivering on the work that is in front of us. Our intentions have never been to one day become a large office but has been to gain a solid depth of expertise and skills set that is inherently associated to our core team. Our focus will be to upskill knowledge while remaining nibble. Pre-covid we gained great opportunity to collaborate with other like-minded practices to produce and deliver projects. These separate collaborations with StallanBrand and Avanti Architects have been extremely rewarding for the practice and for us to quickly gain further experience on larger projects. We hope the industry can embrace these types of opportunities both in terms of practice to practice relations but equally greater mechanisms within the procurement processes. I would like to think we all now have a chance to consider effective change. A chance to embrace and trust small teams and individuals in the delivery of projects. A chance to really see the benefit of the right people (or Team) for the right job.

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Akiko Kobayashi

Alan Dunlop

Founder, Akiko Kobayashi

Founder, Alan DunlopArchitect

I’m keen to get back into the studio. There will just be a new level of home working flexibility needed with days of the week and hardware that’s either portable or duplicated. For everyone else, I imagine it’ll only continue as needed for health protection, but architecture practice needs people in studios together, even if it’s not the most efficient way of delivering work. I was speaking to landscape architects yesterday who seem to have much more time to get work done as travel time has been eliminated, but the job is far less enjoyable. So, efficiency isn’t a good metric. We’re not design/drafting/contract admin machines I will continue to focus on serving the same client sector. I am however already seeing the value of delivering specific ‘post-Covid’ strategies, particularly in the design of workplaces and childcare. Clients appreciate this level of thinking at this stage when we’re still in the pandemic, as it makes the reality of any proposal immediately relevant and therefore I think more tangible.

What’s happening with the BLM movement (rather than Covid) has helped me to value the relationships that I’ve established with my client base.

Overall, perhaps the scale of my work means that I don’t feel the economic effects just yet. My client base is the third sector, and whilst we hear of grant funding decisions being postponed, my clients are well-established organisations that seem to have both reserves and most importantly a need to carry on delivering their services. This might not be physical services at the moment, but there’s no feeling that improvements to their previous physical environments won’t still be needed. If anything, the current climate should be highlighting the importance of their service within the mechanisms of society - I’m specifically thinking of Women’s Aid and Care for Carers.

I think the element of working from home has been easier than people thought because of Zoom and Skype but I don’t know what the future holds. Because of how suddenly it happened there was no chance to make provisions.

I’ve always kept a sketchbook, I take it everywhere I go.

I don’t think there’s anything like a sketch to record where you’ve been. It’s a pleasure to do it and because the sites are closed, teaching is closed and there’s no university access I wanted to keep my brain active so I thought to keep a diary through drawing.

I started life drawing classes last year and have been drawing other things as a consequence.

A fundamental part of my teaching is encouraging students to draw rather than use CGI. To draw you have to study things and it makes things much more memorable.

Some of the students almost have a phobia, they’ve never done it before, it takes a wee while to encourage them to pick up a pencil. It doesn’t matter how talented you are or how good your line is, it’s a process you go through and you have to look. I’ve never seen a computer-generated drawing which I’d like to put on my wall but even the most basic sketches have an inherent beauty in them. I find clients like drawings, they look at photographic images but they also like drawings.

A hand drawing in itself can transcend a way of explaining architecture.

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We’ve all become intimately accustomed to the views from our windows in recent months. Sketch by Alastair Cassell

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Chris Dobson Director, 3DReid Given the recent clamour at Primarks, IKEAs and McDonald’s are notions of a profound step change in our collective behaviour post-Covid-19 wide of the mark?

We are a social animal and a continued erosion of our currently distanced behaviour seems almost certain. Whilst concepts of educational environments that promote separation between children and offices which screen us from one another may seem novel and current at present, do these really represent the way in which we want to live and work and see our future generations learn and interact?

Should we not take a less reactive approach and consider instead a longer term ambition to the design of our built environment, one which places our collective wellbeing at this centre of this? These are not new sentiments – Aalto’s Paimio Sanatorium harnessed the power of the natural world within a healing environment, the oft-referenced Copenhagen pioneered the marginalisation of car use in a northern European climate. Our lockdown period of reflection will hopefully have given all of us a moment of pause to think about such a recalibration and the opportunities that it presents.

The same might be said for our studio environments.

Thinkpieces and cost-cutting prospects may float possibilities of entirely home-based working. But, how does that aid what is a collaborative practice? Certainly, a great positive of these challenging times has been to truly demonstrate how flexible working need not mean reduced productivity and to highlight the undoubted benefits of a healthy work-life balance that can be afforded to the individual through a more fluid daily routine.

To fulfil that balance necessitates the opportunity to escape the makeshift workspaces of our homes when isolation becomes too much. To have an office base through which to be able to experience again the impromptu conversations and sparks that arise from sharing the same physical space with others.

The building of relationships has as much to do with personal connections and the nuances of expression that are lost within the mechanics of the pixels of our on-screen interactions.

Home-working also further highlights the inequalities URBAN REALM SUMMER 2020 URBANREALM.COM

that are present within both our profession and our society – whilst high earners may have the means to create comfortable studies, the young and lower earners, especially those in shared accommodation, often perch upon the ends of their beds. Digital poverty now adding broadband and associated hardware to the multitude of factors separating the haves and have nots.

It is another facet of the challenge facing new graduates, especially those located in towns and cities with high property prices. Many before have graduated during recessions but current conditions are particularly cruel. Shorn of degree shows offering the chance of exposure through a celebration of their work and with the opportunity of temporary employment in other industries to help bridge the gap, immediate recruitment prospects are likely to be slim.

Now, more than ever, the next generation of architects need our support and it is our responsibility to offer nurturing environments in which they can thrive. For the younger members of the team, in particular, the physical office is integral to their learning. The knowledge gathered through osmosis of the general work-based chatter, the ability to sit together around a table to review drawings and emails, the opportunity to be most effectively coached in the use of new software.

Whatever shape our studio takes, moving forward, it will represent a microcosm of the considerations, challenges and opportunities that will extend across all of our work. How can we best re-shape our built environment to promote supportive and inclusive communities, to aid the disadvantaged, to create sustainable and healthy places in which to live, play and work, to harness the potential power of our recently reacquainted togetherness?

And does our pandemic experience herald a genuine change in attitude within the business hierarchy, Work to Live, not Live to Work? In whatever manner a workplace may evolve post Covid-19, one thing is for certain, Architects need a shared space to work and learn from each other.

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Calum Duncan Founder, Calum Duncan Architects; chair, Play Scotland Being playful during these times of home- working, homelearning and restricted movement is more important than ever. Play is a vital and simple way for families and siblings to feel connected; it is a tonic in the face of anxiety, and it is a way of exploring ideas as an opportunity for intuitive learning.

However, we are challenged by good appropriate space, inside and out, for everyone to play and explore. Our roadmap to the lifting of current restrictions is likely to result in traffic increasing again on our streets. Public transport is going to remain restricted, and people will be gradually returning to places of work. Local authorities are looking to expand the provision of space for pedestrians and cyclists to maintain distancing. We would encourage these improvements to be implemented as extensively and boldly as possible. Space is needed for children and young people to PLAY, as well as all of us to get fresh air and exercise.

In built-up areas, parks and greenspace are already under pressure, and we can extend this space within our towns and cities through appropriate road closures for play, walking and exercise. This could be roads which are next to parks and

schools, even rewilding some of these streets, or consider new connections to woodlands and greenspace which are currently not available of less known. A busy road junction adjacent to schools could be transformed into an expanded playground space, whilst calming car use too. A stretch of residential street could be closed where residents have limited or no gardens.

Closed sections of roads can become space to play on bikes, skateboard, chalk drawing, clowning, games and ball games between siblings, play musical instruments, or simply relax and escape the indoors with space to breathe. In the UK overall, 15% of dwellings have no access to private outdoor space. Only 25% of flats have outdoor space and dwellings in the most deprived areas are least likely to have private outdoor space. It is not just for local authorities to take actions on these issues, we can all help. For every single journey we need to make, the less we drive, the slower we drive, the more we cycle and the more we walk, the more space we are making for all ages to enjoy and play. We have an opportunity to change our mindsets which will improve play space, mental health and wellbeing, as well as the air quality for all of us. Let’s make space to play and breathe.

Although the practice is now based in a city centre office, for the first couple of years after setting up we worked from a home studio with other collaborators also being based from home. So, it has not been a culture shock for us that maybe some other practices have encountered. Our I.T. systems and working methods were already geared up for this, so it has been an easy transition.

Most people I speak to in other practices seem to be saying they will ‘wait and see’ when it comes to current staffing levels and likely recruitment over the next period. I think graduates might find the demand levels lower than normal until firms have more of a sense of the overall impact on their workloads as lockdown eases.

We have been lucky that it has been business-as-usual for us, as most of the projects we are working on are at early stages rather than on-site.

Those projects have progressed as normal, and we have even seen some new projects come into the office. Developers seem to be pretty active at the moment, which is positive and encouraging for the longer-term prospects.

Graeme Nicholls Director, Graeme Nicholls Architects

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Hoskins Associate Vas Piyasena documents his well dressed window for posterity as part of the practices Sketch Club URBAN REALM SUMMER 2020 URBANREALM.COM

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Richard MacDonald Director, Keppie Design All of our team are working from home and our IT Infrastructure is standing up well to the scale of files and attachments coupled with the various programs we use. We envisage around 20/30% of staff continuing to work from home for the foreseeable future even after the restrictions are lifted due to various concerns regarding childcare, public transport, and other social distancing concerns. That percentage may increase but we as always are respectful of our teams individual needs, hey I may even work from home more regularly in the future.

We are always keen to recruit graduates but we have to be careful this year to ensure we have sufficient workload to support recruitment. Normally we hire around 3/4 graduates per year but this may be more difficult this year due to the constraints of Covid-19.

Whilst we recognise that certain projects will be affected in the short term by the 2m rule, our designs are not all being completely transformed. We have received client concerns around social distancing and we may have to adapt certain buildings to suit this. Also, a major entertainment project we are working on may have to increase in size quite substantially.

We are constantly reviewing our business planning due to the general volatility of architecture with challenges such as the potential Indyref2 and Brexit creating uncertainty.

Covid-19 simply confuses things further but our Operations Director Pamela Ross has been extremely cautious and prudent since her appointment in 2018 resulting in a robust business model with decent reserves that should withstand the impact of the pandemic. We see a slow and gradual recovery more of a ‘U’ than a ‘V’and our business planning is reflecting this with a significant reduction in revenues forecasted for 2020-21.

James Nelmes Director, Bennetts Associates As Architects the current crisis has taught us we are more adaptable than we think. We transitioned from a studiobased practice in three cities to a virtual office of 70 with relative ease. Some of the changes necessary to achieve this were overdue and there are real positives to greater flexibility in how, where and when we work. Greater home working will unquestionably be a part of our future but we will return to office working when the time is right. Not because we have to but because we want to. We miss each other and we miss the interaction of a studio-based environment. Our view of our offices is changing and we are questioning what their core purpose is. We are putting in place the measures necessary to tackle the short term challenges of returning to the office but we are more motivated by the longer-term – what will our new norm look like? Task-based work does not need to be carried out in the office. Could we remove computers entirely from our studios and use them solely as spaces for interaction, socialising, creation and review? It is the “compulsion of proximity” which continues to drive our thinking. The motivations of the theatres goers, university students and office workers we design for are no different.

It will be interesting to move beyond practice concerns and think how Architecture with a capital ‘A’ might change post-COVD. When OTIS invented the lift and Chicago became the birthplace of the modern high rise city did anyone think there would be a time when we might consider a world without buildings over four floors?

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LOCKDOWN VIEWS

Karen Pickering Director, Page\Park Architects

There will not be a rapid return to the way things were, and in some ways that will be a good thing.

Life has slowed down and we are all appreciating outdoor space more. The environment has hugely benefitted from lockdown and this shows that we can address the climate emergency if we all change our behaviours.

I think working from home will, to varying degrees, be the preferred way to work post lockdown. We have been surveying staff and most are working productively from home. Our staff are now spread across several geographical areas, using technology to stay in touch and are generally reporting a better work/life balance.

However, also as part of the survey, we found that our staff missed being with each other, particularly for the social aspects of working together, collaborative working and asking for advice from colleagues.

We have a large office and can accommodate half our staff at a safe distance. However, one of the main issues will be the commute to our offices. The majority of our staff travel to work via public transport, which at present is not being encouraged.

More will commute by bike and we have doubled the cycle storage at our office. Even I am going to cycle to work!!

I think the majority of architectural practices will be keeping a close eye on staff numbers at present, to keep their existing teams together, so there may be less opportunity for graduates.

However, graduates bring a great deal of flare and energy to practice and can enhance the design output, so there will undoubtedly be some opportunities out there as recovery gains momentum.

Graduates could also consider applying to work in other areas of the construction industry for potential employment, such as working for project managers or contractors, as part of the design management teams.

With the spatial consequences of social distancing measures, almost every client business and organisation is URBAN REALM SUMMER 2020 URBANREALM.COM

having to review their buildings and estates to get back into operation. There is a renewed focus on external space and particularly the urban public realm, and how this can support businesses to reopen in the interim period. There is an increased awareness of environmental and sustainability issues as we have all enjoyed clearer skies and better air quality, and hope this will lead to positive lasting change in terms of active transport.

The Covid-19 situation has highlighted social inequalities in housing, access to green space, physical and digital exclusion in education – and architects are well placed to assist in thinking around these issues. Indeed many architects and designers are using this time to speculate and dream of better futures.

At Page \Park we have been actively engaged in speculating how we will be designing in a post Covid world, across all our sectors.

The city and high streets will change dramatically as we have embraced online shopping to new levels during the lockdown. Retail buildings will need to be re-thought and retrofit will be a focus. Use of external space for social and business use will become a key focus for projects in the future. Increased home working longer term may well result in an excess of office space within cities, that may require repurposing into other uses.

We were reviewing our business model before lockdown and this has given us time to focus on completing that piece of work. We have refreshed our business structure, our design groups and our operational systems. This will help our senior management group concentrate more on developing our architecture and business strategy.

All of this is to ensure we have a robust business, enabling us to progress through what is likely be a difficult time for construction over the coming year.

Competition for work will be tough in Scotland over the coming months. We are looking at widening our geographical reach for work wider in Scotland and also south of the border.

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As boundaries between work and home blur Dunlop finds solace at the tip of his pencil

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LOCKDOWN VIEWS

Above - Hoskins director Sophie Logan brings some colour to a grey world Below - Gaelen Britton goes through the motions with a more figurative approach

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Ewan Imrie Architect, Collective Architecture Adapting to home working, from a technical perspective, was fairly straightforward. We were already well connected and prepared from an IT/communications perspective and moved over 50 employees to homeworking the week before lockdown. However, the impact of working from home varies widely with some finding it a positive change, others an isolating and exhausting experience, and the rest varying between these extremes at different times. To mitigate this, we hold regular full team ‘workshops’ to discuss strategies and provide space for Q+A, which has been helpful all round. We have also put measures in place to support those with childcare and home-schooling pressures by being flexible with working patterns. Our ‘virtual’ team, office, management meetings and informal catch-ups have provided employees with ways to keep in touch with each other and as a way to share information.

Around half of our employees, predominantly the younger members, are keen to return to a studio environment. This, perhaps conveniently, corresponds to the likely capacity of our office with social distancing measures in place. For others, and particularly those whose kids may only return to school or nursery part-time, it looks like home working will remain part of the ‘new normal’ until winter at least.

As a 5th year tutor at Strathclyde University, I worry for graduates trying to find employment. Employers will be reluctant to hire in a recession where sites are progressing slowly and developments stall. Also, there may be no ‘real’ office environment for them to settle into. During the last recession, caused by the financial crisis, lots of excellent small firms were established by graduates. However, these practices were able to develop dynamically by doing consultation work,

public art commissions, community projects, house extensions, etc., and this type of work just might not be there to offer the same opportunities to graduates. Some serious thought and action is needed to find ways to support graduates and make sure excellent talent is not lost.

As most of our income comes from the social housing sector, we are fortunate as this is likely to be less immediately affected than other sectors such as hospitality and commercial, which could be devasted in the short term. Now, more than ever, it appears vital that housing balances well-designed, generous and flexible homes with immediate access to quality open-space and community facilities and we shall continue to pursue this ambition. Also, we are using the lockdown to pursue our interest in tackling Climate Change and are putting more employees through Passivhaus training while developing strategies for zero-carbon housing, the circular-economy and strategies for retrofitting the existing housing stock, which we believe are still pivotal and pressing issues.

A key part of our business plan, in addition to striving for design quality and meeting client and users’ needs, is securing the long-term employment of staff (employee-owners). To date, we have never had to make anyone redundant. In light of the current slowing of construction work and project delays caused by the lockdown, we are expecting the true effects of COVID-19 to kick in in a few months. Therefore, we are currently looking at ways to reduce overheads and are considering ongoing flexible working and implementing a 4-day week for several months. Hopefully, with these measures, we can reduce outgoings and offset this with health and wellbeing benefits for employees.

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THE EGYPTIAN HALLS JOHN GLENDAY

A TIMELY COMPETITION BY THE ALEXANDER THOMSON SOCIETY TO REIMAGINE GLASGOW’S EGYPTIAN HALLS HAS CAUGHT THE PUBLIC ZEITGEIST WITH A DRAMATIC VISION TO FASHION A MUSEUM OF SLAVERY WITHIN THE A-LISTED LANDMARK. COULD THIS BE THE OPPORTUNITY TO END DECADES OF STALEMATE WHILE RIGHTING HISTORIC WRONGS?

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The ground floor would be hollowed out to accommodate four commemorative pillars looming overhead

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THE EGYPTIAN HALLS

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Left - The grid motif percolates throughout the design from a structurally reinforced roof to the interior design Right - Little would remain of the existing halls behind the retained facade

Two leading contenders have emerged in a competition led by the Alexander Thomson Society (ATS) to find creative reuses for Glasgow’s Egyptian Halls.

A panel of judges selected the ‘Temple of Thought’ as their preferred solution for the decaying landmark while a parallel public vote saw a ‘Museum of Slavery’ emerge as the lead contender. This latter option has found traction from the leader of Glasgow City Council down with Susan Aitken reiterating the council’s support for either a standalone museum or a permanent exhibition dedicated to slavery and empire.

Slotting into this ambition the Egyptian Halls work is designed to commemorate and educate people on the 3.5m people estimated to have been bought and sold as slaves in Britain prior to the 1833 Slavery Abolition Act. Concept plans would see shop units vacate the ground floor to accommodate a ground floor exhibition hall. Hanging above visitors heads four ‘monumental’ memorial towers would be suspended from a new cast iron glazed roof, acting as a constant presence and reminder throughout the building.

Explaining the approach behind his entry Gavin Fraser wrote: “To respect and retain the character of the existing building and its unique design, all interior additions are based upon an unsung hero of Thomson’s work - the cast-iron frame.

In the interior I have taken the cast-iron frame, simplified its representation, scaled it and applied it to all fixtures and fittings; stairs, partitions, exhibition stands, seating and planting.”

In a statement, Scott Abercrombie, director of the Alexander Thomson Society, told Urban Realm: “We think that this is a timely and potentially fundable solution, but the Coalition for Racial Equality and Rights (CRER) has been leading this campaign for over a decade and we don’t want to step on their toes. We hope that we can work with CRER to explore whether using Egyptian Halls as a home for their museum would be viable and are delighted to hear the initially positive comments that Zandra Yeaman gave us for our article, as well as those from the public over the weekend who think this is a great opportunity to both confront Glasgow’s history and protect its heritage.”

The Temple of Thought contender meanwhile picks up on Egyptian motifs while providing a space for quiet contemplation with a library, galleries and exhibition halls. The judging panel included Robin Webster, RIAS; Mark Baines, ATS; Isabel Garriga, Glasgow Institute of Architects and Susan O’Connor of the Scottish Civic Trust.

Below Fraser talks us through his winning entry while efforts get underway to make it a reality. >

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THE EGYPTIAN HALLS

Gavin Fraser architectural designer and illustrator

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The concept of the project is to create a memorial and educational museum for slavery, its victims, empire and colonialism. When we walk around Glasgow, not so far from Union St, we can see many remnants of Glasgow’s slave related history; the Merchant city, Virginia Street and Jamaica St to name but a few. But beyond this contextual reference to slavery, we see the remnants of its lucrative life within Glasgow’s fine buildings from the 19th century. Indeed, the ornamentation, wealth and construction of these buildings, civic and otherwise, are all reflections of our slaving past, with nothing to commemorate or recognise this history.

As Celeste-Marie Bernier, professor of Black Studies at Edinburgh University puts it; “Slavery bleeds in

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every building, in every brick, in every town across Scotland.” Furthermore, as David Hayman expresses: “Scots were plantation owners, slave owners, merchant ship owners. The profits fired Scotland’s industrial growth and in every city in our nation you will find civic buildings and private homes built from the profits of slavery – bricks drenched in blood.”

Bearing this in mind, it is a necessity that a city like Glasgow stands up and recognises its historical failings, a means by which to achieve this being establishing a memorial for the victims, and a museum for educating the public about forgotten history. Therefore it is apt to consider a building such as the Egyptian halls, with its exuberant stone-work and rich materials, to be

quite appropriate for the role of a slavery museum – although it may not have been built directly from the profits of slavery, it is a building from a time and culture reliant of indentured labour and slavery. Within the city centre of Glasgow, we can find buildings built on a foundation of wealth capitalised from human suffering and subjugation. A new location within the heart of Glasgow to remember and educate about these horrific crimes can only be situated within a building of this heritage, culture, character and history.

To truly remember the past and restore this once proud building, we must first recognise the city and its past, and in doing so we find the most logical and sympathetic function.

Visitors will have little inkling of what awaits them as they step over the threshold into the main hall

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DIRECTORY LISTING 3D VISUALISATION Max Maxwell Tel: +44 (0)141 370 3500 Email: info@maxmaxwell.co.uk Web: www.maxmaxwell.co.uk Studio, 80 Nicholson St, Laurieston, Glasgow G5 9ER ARCHITECTS & BUILDING CONSULTANTS AHR Tel: 0141 225 0555 Email: glasgow@ahr.co.uk Web: www.ahr.co.uk Clockwise, Savoy Tower, 77 Renfrew Street Glasgow G2 3BZ Carson & Partners Tel: 0141 442 0036 Email: mail@carsonandpartners.com Web: www.carsonandpartners.com Second Floor, Argyll Chambers Buchanan Street, Glasgow G2 8BD jmarchitects Tel: 0141 333 3920 Email: gla@jmarchitects.net Web: www.jmarchitects.net Michael Laird Architects Tel: 01312266991 Fax: 1312262771 Email: marketing@michaellaird.co.uk Web: www.michaellaird.co.uk 5 Forres Street, Edinburgh EH3 6DE Stewart Associates Chartered Architects Tel: 01475 670033 Email: info@stewart-associates.com Web: www.stewart-associates.com The Studio, 9 Waterside Street Largs, Ayrshire KA30 9LN ARCHITECTURE & MASTER PLANNING Hypostyle Architects Tel: 0141 204 4441 Contact: Gerry Henaughen Email: glasgow@hypostyle.co.uk Web: www.hypostyle.co.uk

BUILDING SOLUTIONS/ FACADES Porcelanosa Tel 0141 533 100 Email: braehead@porcelanosa.co.uk Web www.porcelanosa.com/uk 2 Rocep Drive, Braehead, Glasgow PA4 8YT Contact: Chris Kerr, General Manager CONSULTING STRUCTURAL & CIVIL ENGINEERS David Narro Associates Tel: 0131 229 5553 and 0141 552 6080 Contact: Amanda Douglas (Practice Manager) Email: mail@davidnarro.co.uk Web: davidnarro.co.uk Will Rudd Davidson Tel: 0141 248 4866 Contact: Brian Walker Fax: (0)131 557 2942 Web: www.ruddconsult.com/ 43 York Place, Edinburgh EH1 3HP CLADDING RHEINZINK Tel: 01276 686725 Fax: 01276 64480 Email: info@rheinzink.co.uk Web: www.rheinzink.co.uk Wyvern House, 55-61 High Street Frimley GU16 7HJ FIRE ENGINEERS Astute Fire Ltd Tel: 0131 4458607 Contact: Adam Bittern Email: adambittern@astutefire.com Web: www.astutefire.com FLOORING BONA Tel +44 (0)1908 525 150 Fax +44 (0)1908 311 677 Email: info.uk@bona.com Web: www.bona.com 6 Thornton Chase, Linford Wood, Milton Keynes MK14 6FD

LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS LDA Tel: +44 (0) 141 222 9780 Email: kirstin.taylor@lda-design.co.uk Web: www.lda-design.co.uk Sovereign House, 158 West Regent Street, Glasgow G2 4RL rankinfraser Contact: Chris Rankin Tel: 0131 226 7071 Email: mail@rankinfraser.com Web: www.rankinfraser.com LIFTS Stannah Tel: 0141 882 9946 Fax: 0141 882 7503 Email: contact@stannah.co.uk Web: www.stannahlifts.co.uk 45 Carlyle Avenue, Hillington Industrial Estate, Glasgow G52 4XX NATURAL SLATE Cupa Pizarras Tel: 0131 225 3111 Email: uk@cupapizarras.com Web: www.cupapizarras.com 45 Moray Place Edinburgh EH3 6bQ PHOTOGRAPHY Niall Hastie Photography Email: niall@niallhastiephotography.com Web: www.niallhastiephotography.com 567A Great Western Road Aberdeen AB10 6PA SPECIALIST SUPPLIER OF SUSTAINABLE TIMBER Russwood Tel: 01540 673648 Email: mail@russwood.co.uk Web: www.russwood.co.uk STONE Denfind Stone Tel: 01382 370220 Fax: 01382 370722 Email: sales@denfindstone.co.uk Web: www.denfindstone.co.uk Pitairlie Quarry, Denfind Farm Monikie, Angus, DD5 3PZ

Dunedin Stone Tel: 01875 613075 Fax: 01875 615236 Email: info@dunedinstone.co.uk Web: www.dunedinstone.co.uk 17a Macmerry Industrial Estate, Macmerry, East Lothian EH33 1RD Tradstocks Natural Stone Tel: 01786 850400 Fax: 01786 850404 Email: info@tradstocks.co.uk Web: www.tradstocks.co.uk Dunaverig, Thornhill, Stirling FK8 3QW TILING Porcelain Plus Tel: 01236 728436 Contact: Moira Pollock Email: moira@porcelainplus.co.uk Web: www.porcelainplus.co.uk TILE SUPPLIERS Ceramexcel Contract Ceramics Ltd Tel: 01698 262442 Mob: 07825 612219 Email: sales@ceramexcel.com 12 Dellburn Trading Park, Meadow Road, Motherwell Lanarkshire ML1 1QB TIMBER ENGINEERING Scotframe Tel: 01467 624 440 Email: inverurie@scotframe.co.uk Web: www.scotframe timberengineering.co.uk Inverurie Business Park Souterford Avenue Inverurie AB51 OZJ Contact: Gillian Murray TOILETS/WASHROOM CUBICLES Interplan Panel Systems Tel: +44 (0)141 336 4040 Email: contact@interplansystems.co.uk Web: www.interplanpanelsystems.co.uk Unit 2/2 Brand Place, Glasgow G51 1DR

A MAGAZINE ABOUT THE STREETS IS ON THE STREETS To advertise contact John Hughes on 0141 356 5333 or email jhughes@urbanrealm.com

PRODUCTS

TO ADVERTISE YOUR PRODUCT OR COMPANY IN THIS SECTION CONTACT JOHN HUGHES ON 0141 356 5333 MAKING STONE FLOW

NEW KINGSPAN TEK VISITOR CENTRE IS A RARE BREED

Adam Architecture, who designed Tregavethan Manor in Cornwall, specified a solid stone staircase created by craftsmen at Ian Knapper that flowed through the building, sweeping the eye up two flights. This staircase sweeps around the stairwell, seemingly cantilevered from the wall to create an illusion of it defying gravity as you enter the double-height space.

Cotswold Farm Park has almost tripled the size of its visitor facilities with a new, purpose-built centre, which combines the aesthetic appeal of traditional farm building with the outstanding envelope performance of the Kingspan TEK Building System of Structural Insulated Panels (SIPs)The Kingspan TEK Building System was designed and installed

by Kingspan TEK delivery partner, Glosford SIPs, forming the structural shell of the building.

Web: www.ianknapper.com

Tel: +44 (0) 1544 387 384 Email: literature@kingspantek.co.uk Web: www.kingspantek.co.uk

COV - TRANSPARENT SOCIALISING PANELS BY MATTEO CIBIC

CIVIL ENGINEER HEADS UP PEGASUS GROUP’S NEW INFRASTRUCTURE DESIGN DEPARTMENT

‘Co-Covid Dividers’ is a collection of dividers launched by Matteo Cibic to help make social distancing look just a little bit better - in multiple shapes and finishings for restaurants, offices and other public spaces. I never expected that a divider could become the socialisation tool of tomorrow. I designed a smart and elegant solution to start socialising again during this time of pandemic.

National multi-disciplinary consultancy Pegasus Group continues to diversify its offering to clients with the establishment of an Infrastructure Design department.

The new field of expertise is headed up by newly appointed senior director Simon Jacques who will sit alongside Craig Rawlinson within a wider Transport and Infrastructure team. Immediately available capabilities will include the design of new internal highway infrastructure; car parks; and pedestrian improvements.

Web: www.matteocibicstudio.com/covid

#PORCELANOSAPOSITIVITY – IT’S A DOG’S LIFE During lock-down, the one thing we can count on to cheer us up is our four-legged friends. However, our animal friends can cause havoc on our wooden floors but have no fear! PORCELANOSA have the solution. Scratch resistant PAR-KERTM ceramic parquet by PORCELANOSA recreates the texture of natural wood with the strength of ceramics and can be installed as interior or exterior floor or wall tiles.

RECTICEL’S DECK-VQ® INSULATION GIVES VIP PERFORMANCE Recticel Insulation’s ultra slim, yet ultrahigh-performing vacuum insulation panel (VIP), ensured a complex new-build terrace roof achieved the requisite U-value. Deck-VQ® is Recticel’s pioneering response to customer demand for super-slim insulation that maximises comfort and protection in limited space.

With a thermal performance core of lambda 0.006, Deck-VQ® was the ideal fit for a terrace roof on a stunning private property in Highgate, north London.

UNITED CAPITAL ACQUIRE SALTIRE FACILITIES MANAGEMENT

MODULAR SKYLIGHTS TO MAXIMISE THE POSITIVE EFFECTS OF DAYLIGHT UPON PATIENT WELFARE

United Capital, which acquired former Scotland Top 500 company, McGill, and Angus-based electrical services firm, Alliance Electrical in 2019, has acquired Saltire Facilities Management, a national central heating and electrical service providers with over 320 direct employees and annual turnover of circa. £30million. Glasgowheadquartered Saltire Facilities Management, was founded in 2000 as a public/private partnership with North Lanarkshire Council to operate as an in-house facilities division.

140 modules of the VELUX Modular Skylight system have been installed at the new Wicklow Hospice at Magheramore, Ireland, providing ventilation, thermal comfort and natural light. Critical to the design of this healthcare facility was the need to harness the positive benefits of natural daylight and create an environment that would be sensitive to the needs of patients, nursing staff and visitors.

Tel: 03301332205 Email: fraser.kirk@united-capital.co.uk Web: www.united-capital.co.uk