Day: November 23, 2021

Edinburgh welcomes The Neighbourhood to Bruntsfield

  • NEW SECRET GARDEN, RESTAURANT & BAR CONCEPT LAUNCHES IN BRUNTSFIELD 
  • FLEXIBLE CO-WORKING HUB FOR LOCALS, STUDENTS AND PROFESSIONALS 
  • PROPERTY FORMS PART OF A £1MILLION INVESTMENT 

www.thebruntsfield.co.uk/theneighbourhood

An enticing new all-day dining, working, and socialising space has joined Edinburgh’s vibrant restaurant scene. 

Overlooking Bruntsfield Links and Meadows, The Neighbourhood l Kitchen – Bar – Garden offers locals, students and visitors the chance to enjoy a relaxed atmosphere reminiscent of an elegant home while catching up, celebrating or even getting on with the daily grind. 

Its new co-working concept, within a flexible hot-desk hub, is tempting for those looking to escape a home office, study or student library, bottomless tea and coffee on tap and fast Wi-Fi for just £10 per day.  

Meanwhile the ‘secret’ garden, hidden beyond a foliage archway, leads guests to The Neighbourhood’s intimate, heated booths. It also provides the perfect pet-friendly pitstop after a walk on the meadows. 

General Manager, Alistair Bruce says: “We want The Neighbourhood to be an extension of our guests’ homes to unwind and reconnect with friends and family. Somewhere to work and play with homely food, creative cocktails, and true Scottish charm – from our service and design to the suppliers sourced throughout our menu and our quirky design.” 

The Neighbourhood’s inviting menu includes a range of seasonal food and dishes inspired by Scotland and local ingredients.  

Signature dishes include: seared scallops served with smoked cauliflower puree and Stornoway black pudding; haggis ravioli with crushed neeps, crispy potato and whisky cream sauce and North Sea battered haddock with pea puree, tartare sauce and triple cooked chips.

A variety of sharing platters, pizzas, pasta and burgers have also been carefully curated for the new menu, with plenty of vegan and gluten free alternatives. Those with a sweet tooth can expect desserts such as apple, ginger and pecan crumble and sticky toffee pudding. 

The venture is also family friendly space, with a new children’s menu designed to be both healthy, e.g. vegetable fritters with tzatziki and mini aubergine parmigiana, and educational – there is a selection of quizzes for all ages, themed from animals and geography to health and wellness. 

And weekends at The Neighbourhood are for brunch, including an option to upgrade to bottomless prosecco for birthdays, celebrations, or long-overdue catch ups.

Brunch dishes include The Neighbourhood’s renowned Scottish breakfast including sausages and haggis sourced from John Gilmour’s & Campbells, the local butcher.

Smashed avocado with feta and chilli or French toast with mixed berries and maple syrup will also be served.

Each evening, The Neighbourhood will become a late-night cocktail venue serving Scottish beers such as Coast to Coast, botanical cocktails with local ingredients such as the “Scottish Garden” made with Edinburgh Gin and “The Watermelon & Strawberry Gin Cooler”, using Caorunn Gin with a flavoured bubble on top. 

The Neighbourhood replaces the former Bisque Brasserie, part of a £1million investment in collaboration with The Bruntsfield Hotel, formerly three stately houses built in 1861, all previously occupied by doctors, including botanist and surgeon William Craig.

The Neighbourhood’s design is inspired by the vibrant neighbourhood of Bruntsfield and the heritage of the Victorian building with brick slip clad columns, a stone clad bar front and a variety of seating styles within the sophisticated bar and restaurant space. 

The Neighbourhood is open now, five days per week, Wednesdays to Sundays inclusive from 7am-1am, bar only from 5pm until late Mondays and Tuesdays.

Bookings can be made via The Neighbourhood’s website: 

www.thebruntsfield.co.uk/theneighbourhood 

or via OpenTable:

 https://www.opentable.co.uk/r/the-neighbourhood-kitchen-bar-garden-edinburgh.

Follow on Instagram @theneighbourhood.bruntsfield 

Team Esteem’s in Dubai …

A Team Esteem update from JAIRIS ALVARES

Construction​

Working on our adaptable strategy for modern construction solutions to meet the world’s carbon agenda, we manufactured a world first: a house fully constructed from Scottish-grown and pressed cross laminated timber. A huge collaborative student success of proving the existence and ability for the new industry in the UK, contributing to the development of the local economy.​

The students played a key part in all of the processes in designing and working with industry at all stages, introducing over one hundred young professionals to the sustainable benefits of mass timber production and the solutions required to overcome the technical complexity and associations with using timber as a building material.

The immense effect of celebrating the positive environmental impact and carbon reduction across social media has spread the message to many thousands more people worldwide.​​

Designing to the constraints of transportation via containers, the design required flexibility and de-mountability which challenges the wasteful approach of single-use residential properties that ultimately lead to demolition. ​

Our commitment to reduce embodied carbon is matched with the need to operate a thermally and energy efficient house. Priorities were placed on minimising energy use from manufacture to as-built and continually improving the resilience to the changing climate requirements across both Scotland and Dubai.​

The innovation and solution to creating a low carbon design is further aided with the use of recyclable, natural materials such as hemp insulation and wood fibre rigid insulation. These work with the timber structure to create an organic, safe environment for the occupants, free of emissions and VOC’s often associated with alternative materials. We believe this is a key driver for the success of the design solution and the achievement felt by the students constructing this.

Windcatcher

​The courtyard is integral to the experience of the house as it provides a private outdoor recreational area. Therefore, we had to think creatively to make it a comfortable space.

We looked to regions with warmer climates for inspiration as it was evident that conventional air conditioning systems and fans would not be suitable. The Windcatcher is a hallmark of traditional Persian architecture, but it had to be adapted to fit our design philosophy.​​

When designing our ideal windcatcher, our team reimagined what is usually quite an active, angular structure to one with complex curves and soft edges. Our design incorporates an entirely passive functionality of natural airflow through our concrete model, in alignment with our ethos.​​

Along with the tower, we designed a conformal bench to close off the courtyard. This is an example of creative integration; the bench follows the curves of the tower while fulfilling the criteria for courtyard privacy. ​​

This design was made possible by using 3D printed concrete, provided by Concreative in Dubai. This manufacturing process is truly at the leading edge of construction. ​​

We therefore achieved a creative outdoor cooling solution that requires no power, has almost negligible running costs and is extremely reliable. Fundamentally, the windcatcher is a creative redesign of an age-old concept in order to create an outdoor cooling system in harmony with a modern house.​​

Architecture

​Our house exploits architectural strategies to embrace a balance of open, celebratory community areas and small, focused private spaces. The living room and dining/kitchen area flank the external courtyard, facing each other across retractable triple-glazed doors. ​

The living room and the dining area benefit from luxurious high ceilings, giving an expansive feeling to these rooms, encouraging gathering and communal engagement. Conversely, the bedroom and study are enclosed spaces, wrapped in the thick CLT walls (both internal partitions and external) providing thermal, acoustic and visual separation for quiet enjoyment and focus. ​

Reconciling traditional Emirati architecture and its emphasis on privacy with the open-planned character of Western design posed an even greater challenge for the team. Hence we created a hybrid by using the courtyard as a space that divides the two halves, whilst keeping them connected. ​

The interior design celebrates its engineering: we leave the timber walls visible and tactile where possible,  and enjoy the aesthetic of revealed services runs and some of our high-tech energy-saving solutions; the HVAC runs above the kitchen, the recycled waste brick wall; the water conservation in the bathroom.​

Windows can open, enabling users to decide to welcome in an evening breeze when suitable and to pull hot air from high levels through the house.​​

Website

​To ensure smooth and efficient management of our construction process, we built our own bespoke web-based tracking systems; our talented developers coded internal tools from scratch that allowed us to work smarter. ​​

https://panel.esteem.house​​

QR code stickers were placed on each panel and scanning them would take you directly to that panel’s page. Members could track and monitor the condition of panels to ensure all knowledge was up to date and centralised. Moreover, the intelligent system aids communication with working with the often-unfamiliar material and/or building methodology.​​

We also re-made our website from the ground up to be faster and more aligned to the ESTEEM brand. Using React, we’ve built a modular and component-based foundation that allows us to more easily expand upon as things change.​​

Minecraft

​What started as a crazy idea, quickly evolved into reality as we took on new members to help create an experience of our house unlike any other. We recreated our house in our own Minecraft world, making it accessible to everyone.

It took around 3 months of working out the dimensions – we wanted to make it realistic, but not compromise on the feel – and retexturing the Minecraft assets, pixel by pixel, to show the actual materials that we will be using.

AR/VR

​With the COVID-19 pandemic and continuing travel restrictions, we used augmented and virtual reality (AR and VR) to bring the ESTEEM House and its experience to everyone around the world. It is a means to showcase and describe the story behind our innovative ideas and solutions to visitors of the house in an engaging and educational way.​

To make the experience of using the AR experience seamless, we hosted it on Zappar which eliminated the need for users to download an app before use.​

Our creative solution to make VR accessible is to use Mozilla Hubs. It’s web-based and allows several visitors to communicate and discuss amongst themselves during a virtual tour given by a tour guide.

It supports VR headsets but doesn’t require one.

For visitors who meet us in person, we use the Oculus Quest to showcase the VR experience.​These technologies are instrumental in preserving the hard work that we’ve put into the ESTEEM House, especially to showcase areas that aren’t immediately visible.

These experiences will still be accessible even after the competition is over.​

JAIRIS ALVARES

TEAM ESTEEM is the Heriot-Watt Edinburgh Team participating at the Solar-Decathlon Middle East

#SDME2021

We will design a home that adapts to your needs.

“Pride in where, and how, we live”

Public call to back greatest coaching moment of 2021

As an extraordinary year full of so many inspiring sporting moments draws to a close, UK Coaching is encouraging the nation to vote for its Great Coaching Moment, to be announced at next month’s UK Coaching Awards.

The Great Coaching Moment Award focuses not only on the material successes of coaches but on how they ground their work in putting people first. And with each of the incredible nominees, their unique connection with their team or athlete sets them apart and typifies what great coaching is all about.

Nominated and judged by an independent panel, this year’s finalists include:

  • Gareth Southgate – The England national team Head Coach protected and supported his players as they received criticism for choosing to take the knee before international matches. The outstanding leadership shown by Southgate amongst negative rhetoric, to insist England were “more determined than ever” to take a knee, encapsulated the togetherness he had created amongst his squad.
  • Jane Figueiredo – Figuerido helped make Tom Daley’s already legendary GB legacy a golden one, supporting him to a first ever Olympic title. Following the diver’s heartbreak at the Rio Olympics where he was unable to reach the final, Figueiredoopted to pair Daley with new partner Matty Lee at Tokyo 2020 – and gave us one of the most inspirational moments of the entire competition.
  • Great Britain Wheelchair Rugby Coaching Team – Head coach Paul Shaw and his backroom staff made history against all odds, with The Sweet Chariots bringing home a first ever Paralympic gold. This was all the more remarkable, given that the team had lost all their funding just a few years out from the tournament – yet such was their belief they could succeed, the coaching staff continued as unpaid volunteers, and immortalised themselves as Paralympic champions.
  • Gaz Choudhry – Choudhry stepped up for his teammates at the most pressurised moment possible as GB’s wheelchair basketball coach Haj Bhania tested positive for Covid prior to the Toko Paralympics and was unable to travel with the team. Leading the team as player-coach, Choudhry rallied the team despite circumstances conspiring against them, picking up an unprecedented bronze medal.

Discussing the shortlist for this year’s Great Coaching Moment Award, UK Coaching’s Director of Coaching Emma Atkins said: “This shortlist showcases the year’s best coaching moments. The moments that have inspired us all, made us feel proud and at times made us all very emotional, reminding us that with great coaching, so much is possible even through adversity.

“These coaches have stepped up when their athletes most needed them, they have looked at what can be done, and on the biggest stages taking the pressure off athletes so they can perform at their very best. Without fail these great coaches have considered the needs of others first and have shown us all that great coaching changes lives.

“Each of those shortlisted can be so proud of their own coaching moment and I cannot wait to see who the public chooses at our UK Coaching Awards 2021.”

The UK Coaching Awards are set to take place on Tuesday 7 December 2021 and will recognise and celebrate the work of people and organisations who are making a significant impact in communities across the country.

To vote for your greatest coaching moment, visit www.ukcoaching.org/gcm-2021.

The public vote will close on Monday 6 December.

NO MENTION OF JACK ROSS? – Ed.

Nine in 10 Black Friday ‘deals’ same price or cheaper ahead of the event, Which? reveals

Nine in 10 (92%) Black Friday ‘deals’ are the same price or cheaper in the six months ahead of the big event, a Which? investigation has found.

The consumer champion analysed 201 of last year’s Black Friday deals at six major retailers – Amazon, AO, Argos, Currys, John Lewis and Richer Sounds – looking at their prices every day during the six months before and after Black Friday as well as on the day itself.

A huge 184 of the products, which included popular items such as washing machines, soundbars and TVs, were the same price or cheaper in the six months prior to Black Friday. Only 17 of the deals did not fall into this category.

With Black Friday just days away, Which? is advising shoppers to do some research to help them hunt down the minority of deals that really are a bargain and emerge from the mammoth sales event with high-quality products at a reasonable price.

Consumers could have had a challenge finding a decent deal at Currys last year, given every one of the 32 products Which?’s experts looked at from the retailer’s Black Friday sales had been an equal price or cheaper in the previous six months.

One of the worst individual deals Which? came across was a Zanussi ZWF81441W washing machine at John Lewis that was cheaper than its Black Friday price on 88 different days before the day itself.

‘Discounted’ to £309 on Black Friday, customers could have bought it £60 cheaper at £249 five months before and for £289 within just a month after.

Another dubious ‘deal’ was a Bush BRC100DHEB 100cm Dual Fuel Range Cooker sold at Argos for £449.99 (was £499.99) but it was actually the same price 66 times before and 19 times after Black Friday.

Out of the retailers analysed, Richer Sounds had the highest proportion of deals, four out of 14, that were not cheaper or the same price before Black Friday – still not hugely impressive.

When looking at prices six months before and after Black Friday 2020, just one of the 201 products was at its cheapest price on Black Friday alone.

Many shoppers do not do any research before they splash their cash on Black Friday, which leaves them at greater risk of falling for dud deals. Which? survey research shows four in 10 (39%) of those buying baby and child products last year did little or no research on price, while for home appliances this was the case for three in 10 (28%) and for tech products it was one in five (18%).

Which?’s survey also found that a lot of shoppers had not read reviews of products before buying them. A third (33%) of those buying baby and child products last Black Friday did little or no research on reviews of the products before buying. For those buying home appliances a quarter (26%) were in this position and for tech products it was one in five (22%).

Which?’s pricing investigation also found that, when looking at the six months after Black Friday, almost all (98.5%) of the products across the six retailers were cheaper or the same price at some point during this period – suggesting that in some cases shoppers may be better off biding their time and waiting for the price of a product to fall further.

Which? believes retailers should always make sure the discounts they quote are truly genuine.

Consumers are advised not to feel pressured to rush into making a purchase. They should look to get Black Friday bargains that are the real deal this winter and choose products that are high-quality and built to last.

Ele Clark, Which? Retail Editor, said: “Our latest investigation has shown that the vast majority of Black Friday deals are not as good as they appear to be, which is why it’s so important to do your research before diving into the sales.

“Take time to identify the products you really want and check that the ‘deal’ you’re seeing represents a genuine saving. That way, you can beat the hype and be confident that you’ll emerge from the Black Friday sales with quality products that will last for years to come – and all for a bargain price.”

Black Friday advice

Short-term lets: Legislation laid before Scottish Parliament

Councils will be given powers to ensure short-term lets are safe and meet the needs of their local communities under legislation laid before the Scottish Parliament.

Under the legislation, all local authorities will be required to establish a short-term lets licensing scheme by October 2022. Existing hosts and operators will have until 1 April 2023 to apply for a licence for each property that they operate as a short-term let. All short-term lets in Scotland will have to be licensed by 1 July 2024.

The legislation was developed after residents across Scotland raised significant concerns about the impact of short-term lets on their communities, including noise, antisocial behaviour and the impact on the supply on housing in some areas.

It will ensure the needs and concerns of communities are balanced with wider economic and tourism interests.

Housing Secretary Shona Robison said: “We have already introduced legislation allowing councils to establish short-term let control areas and manage numbers of short-term lets. This is the next significant step to delivering a licensing scheme that will ensure short-term lets are safe and the people providing them are suitable.

“We want short term lets to continue making a positive impact on Scotland’s tourism industry and local economies while meeting the needs of local communities.

“Short-term lets can offer people a flexible travel option. However, we know that in certain areas, particularly tourist hotspots, high numbers of lets can cause problems for neighbours and make it harder for people to find homes to live in.

“The licensing scheme and control area legislation give councils the powers to take action where they need to.

“We appreciate the input from tourism bodies, local government, community organisations and others in reaching this point, and look forward to delivering a short-term lets licensing scheme that works for Scotland.”

Further information on the Scottish Government’s short-term lets legislation is available online.

Emerging Scottish hip hop artists to listen out for this December

Scottish hip hop record label, Habibi Records, reveals latest track releases

Scottish hip hop label, Habibi Records, has revealed three new track releases from the country’s most promising artists. Formed in April this year by CTRL, Do Rego and Mezzo, Habibi Records aims to provide a platform for the best emerging talent here in Scotland.

‘We’re all about supporting aspiring, hungry, lyrically-driven rappers’, says CTRL, and the list of tracks set to be released in December 2021 reflects the diversity of skills, styles and flair of their artists. 

DECEMBER 2021 RELEASES

Artists: Armzy x CTRL 

Track Title: HeadGone 

About the track: A collab track featuring CTRL and Armzy, the track includes a thoughtful in-depth verse from Armzy and light playful rhymes from CTRL, layered over a dreamy slow-paced hip-hop track produced by Do Rego, mixed and mastered by Leftmind.

Release Date: 9.12.21

Artists: Driss x CTRL x Jaad

Track Title: Al Pacino

About the track: An aggressive drill multi-language track, with the hook themed around the actor, Al Pacino. Featuring three up and coming Scottish rappers; Driss, CTRL and Jaad. Produced by Do Rego, mixed by Jaad, and mastered by Leftmind.

Release Date: 23.12.21

Artists: Bakersville ft Joey Locke 

Track Title: Beside You 

About the track: A catchy pop love song with an early Calvin Harris vibe. Featuring gorgeous vocals from Joey Locke and a creative video, Bakersville has produced a new wave set hit to captivate listeners. 

Release Date: 30.12.21

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

CTRL
Multi-genre rapper, honest in his lyricism and keen to impress with his rap ability. His unique flow, speed, tone, minimum use of profanity, and clever way with words make him one to watch.

Driss
Adding a fresh new edge to UK drill music, Driss is a 22-year-old Greek with a passion for the ever-growing sub-genre. With a full unreleased catalogue of music, Driss is poised to make waves in the industry.

Jaad


An impressive rapper with a distinctive sound, spreading his vibe across the Scottish rap scene with multiple track releases and features.

Armzy


Sudanese heritage, Oxford born but Scottish living rapper Armzy is a versatile and skilled rapper with a highly seductive voice.

Bakersville
A quiet and mystical producer, this emerging talent started out making hits in his bedroom right here in Scotland.

Joey Locke


A singer songwriter, model and actor from Scotland, Joey Locke is a young, talented, and passionate artist set for big things.

To find out more, follow @habibirecords_ on Instagram and Habibi Records on YouTube

Festivi-teas at Dobbies

With the most wonderful time of the year just around the corner, get into the seasonal spirit and enjoy Dobbies’ Christmas Afternoon Tea.

Dobbies has decked the Edinburgh store out in festive decorations, and has everything customers could dream of do Christmas their way. From real and faux trees and wreaths, to decorations in a variety of dazzling winter themes, plus gifts, festive food and stocking fillers.

Dobbies’ Christmas Afternoon Tea includes a selection of seasonal finger sandwiches, mini cakes, sweet slices and mince pies. Freshly-made festive scones with jam and clotted cream will also be served, perfectly paired with a pot of tea or coffee. For added sparkle, there’s the opportunity to upgrade with a bottle of Prosecco.

Also available for little ones is Dobbies’ Children’s Christmas Afternoon Tea. Freshly-made sandwiches, delicious festive treats, a selection of healthy snacks and fruit juice means the whole family can enjoy a seasonal treat.

Sarah Murray, Partnership and Events Manager at Dobbies said: “Christmas at our Edinburgh store is a magical time of the year and we can’t wait to welcome customers in to enjoy all that we have to offer. We’re not your average garden centre.

“Our restaurant is the perfect spot for a festive bite to eat after a busy day shopping at the Edinburgh store. The Christmas Afternoon Tea is a lovely way for customers to enjoy our fantastic selection of baked goods, leaving them feeling festive.”

Dobbies’ Edinburgh Christmas Afternoon Tea experience is available for a limited time throughout November and December. Prices start from £13.50 per adult and £7.50 per child and booking is essential.

To book your experience or for more information visit:

https://www.dobbies.com/events

Nominate a charity to receive a festive financial boost

Specialist insurer Ecclesiastical is giving £120,000 to good causes as part of its annual 12 days of giving Christmas campaign.

Now into its fifth year, Ecclesiastical is once again inviting Scotland residents to nominate a registered charity close to their hearts to benefit from this festive financial boost.

Ten lucky winners will be announced each weekday from 6 to 21 December.

Dundee Museum of Transport, REACH Lanarkshire Autism based in Glasgow, West Regional Scout Council in Paisley and Kirkcaldy Foodbank were some of the local beneficiaries in 2020, following overwhelming public support in the country.

It’s quick and easy to nominate a charity online. Nominations are open until 20 December and you can vote for your favourite charity at:

 www.movementforgood.com/12days.

Winners will be drawn at random – and while it’s not a popularity contest, the more times a charity is nominated the more chance it has of being selected.

Ecclesiastical is encouraging everyone to use their social media channels to ask people to vote for their favourite cause to give them the best possible chance of winning.

Last year saw an amazing 285,000 people around the UK support the 12 days of giving Christmas campaign in total, with a staggering 17,800 charitable causes up and down the country receiving votes.

Mark Hews, Group CEO of Ecclesiastical, said: “As a commercial company with a charitable purpose, giving back is at the heart of our business. In fact, Ecclesiastical is the fourth largest corporate donor in the UK*.

“Our annual 12 days of giving Christmas campaign has supported hundreds of charities over the past four years and I’m delighted that we will once again help charities change lives for the better.

“We know that for many charities, £1,000 can make a real difference. We’re encouraging everyone to nominate a cause close to their hearts this Christmas to be in for a chance to win a festive financial boost.”

ASDA bosses take the plunge at Porty today for Children in Need

FORTY managers from Asda central region – including local region manager Brian Boyle – will be taking a brave plunge into the chilly sea at Portobello at 1pm today to raise money for children in need (writes SHARON GRAY, Asda Leith’s Community Champion).

We have raised over £1000 so far, but are looking to raise more. Come along and give your support! Meet up at Bath Street entrance from 12:45pm.

Sharon has also sent some pictures of the Asda team in training: