Tag: brownfield site

New ‘coastal town’* for Edinburgh reaches next major milestone

(* IT’S GRANTON WATERFRONT!)

Following extensive consultation, plans for the first phase of a £1.3bn sustainable new coastal town at Granton Waterfront in Edinburgh are available to view on the Council’s Planning Portal.

In partnership with Cruden Homes, the Council plan to transform part of the Capital’s largest brownfield site into an exciting new development comprising over 800 net zero homes, capacity for a new primary school and low carbon heat network, commercial units, active travel routes and other sustainable transport infrastructure as well as attractive public and open space.

At least 35% of the homes will be of affordable tenure.

Warm, energy efficient, family and wheelchair accessible homes will connect to a  low carbon heat network, delivered by Vattenfall Heat UK Ltd.

At the heart of this nationally significant development of Edinburgh’s coastline sits the iconic Granton Gasholder currently being restored to become a public park as well as several historic buildings including the former Granton Station, which has been refurbished and now has its own public square.

Council Leader Cammy Day said: “We’ve been consulting with people every step of the way to deliver this project. I’m really pleased that after listening to feedback from the local community and others interested in the area, the team has submitted plans for the largest regeneration project of its kind in Scotland at Granton Waterfront as part of the £1.3 billion regeneration.

“To deliver our net zero targets for the Capital, sustainable regeneration is so important and every element of this development has been designed with that in mind.

“We have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to build a 20-minute neighbourhood completely from scratch which includes affordable net zero homes, shops, cultural, leisure and education facilities all close by.

“Our plans show how the new neighbourhood will link to the rest of the city and beyond as well as to the many established communities nearby.”

Fraser Lynes, Managing Director of Cruden Homes said: “We have thoroughly enjoyed working closely with the Council, local community and key stakeholders to create a transformational design that reconnects the Capital to the Firth of Forth.

“This landmark, landscape-led development of Edinburgh’s coastline takes a fresh approach to urban regeneration which will create an exciting new coastal community set to become one of Europe’s largest waterside amenities.

“Moreover, the delivery of 847 much needed, high quality and sustainable new homes across all tenures will make an important contribution to alleviating the well documented housing emergency.”

Housing: Opposition to development halves if new homes locally affordable, new poll reveals

  • Level of opposition falls from 41% to 20% if new homes affordable for local people 
  • Support for new homes on brownfield land 20 points higher than for those elsewhere 
  • This polling supports CPRE’s campaign for the redefinition of ‘affordable’ housing in line with local incomes and its calls for a brownfield-first national housebuilding policy. 

New polling by YouGov, commissioned by CPRE, the countryside charity, has revealed that half of people who object to new housing in their local area would support them if the homes were affordable to people on average local incomes.

Whereas 41% said they did not want to see the construction of more homes close to where they live, that proportion fell to 20% if those homes were locally affordable.  

So-called ‘affordable’ housing, which can currently cost anything up to 80% of market rates, is usually anything but. CPRE is calling on the government to redefine the term in housing policy and link it directly to local incomes.

The results of the poll, carried out by YouGov, show that this change would encourage many people to support developments to which they would previously have objected.  

The poll also showed an increase in support for new homes from 50% to 71% if they were built on brownfield land. There are enough ‘shovel-ready’ brownfield sites in England for 1.2 million new homes.

Building them could provide people with genuinely affordable housing – close to where they already live, work and go to school – and protect the countryside at the same time.

This is a major endorsement of the brownfield-first house building policy, which is critical to reducing the need to build on Green Belt land that could otherwise support nature restoration and other environmental benefits such as flood defences. 

Developments in the Green Belt have been shown to underdeliver on affordability, while research published by CPRE in 2023 showed social homes accounted for less than 5% of those built on Green Belt land.

“The Green Belt is the countryside next door for 30 million people in the UK. It should be improved and protected to help us tackle the major environmental challenges we face, not covered with large, car-dependent ‘executive’ homes that local people neither want nor can afford. 

CPRE chief executive Roger Mortlock said: ‘The results of this poll tell us that people want new homes to be affordable for local people and built on brownfield sites. Both are possible with enough political will and we want to see all parties make strong pledges to deliver that. 

‘We need to move away from the idea that people in the countryside are against development. They want the same things as everyone else: housing on a scale and at a cost that’s appropriate for their local community that respects environmental limits.

“Land is this country in a finite resource and our countryside is working harder than ever to meet the multiple environmental and social challenges we face.

“For new housing we should prioritise inner-city brownfield development, urban densification and regeneration of towns, delivering the homes we need today while safeguarding the countryside for future generations to enjoy.’  

State-of-the-Green-Belt-2023-onlineDownload

Fountainbridge regeneration preferred development partner to be approved

The City of Edinburgh Council’s flagship regeneration of a major brownfield site in Fountainbridge is set to pass another milestone next week.

On Thursday, agreement will be sought from councillors at the Finance and Resource Committee to appoint a development partner for the next stages of the project.

Following a competitive procurement process, it is recommended that the £1.1million contract for the pre-development services for the brownfield site be awarded to award-winning housebuilder Cruden Homes (East) Limited ahead of the full development starting in early 2022.

During the pre-development, work will be carried out to prepare for construction, including finalising designs and selecting a net zero carbon energy solution for the entire site, contributing to the Council’s ambitious target to reach net-zero emissions by 2030.

The masterplan for the site was approved in 2016 following an extensive programme of community consultation and regular engagement on proposals for the site has continued with the Fountainbridge Sounding Board, a forum bringing together the area’s key stakeholders.

The masterplan will enable the transformation of the site into a mix of uses including; new homes, offices, shops, social enterprise and community spaces knitted together by high quality public realm.

The development will complement both the new Boroughmuir High School to the west and Vastint Hospitality’s “New Fountainbridge” development to the east.

The housing element of the development will see a total of 436 new homes built. This will comprise 113 homes for social rent, with over 10% wheelchair accessible, 64 homes for mid-market and market rent and 259 homes for private sale or rent.

Commercial, social enterprise, retail and community spaces will feature within both the affordable and private housing phases, along with a 100,000 square foot office building which will provide space for early-stage tech companies to “scale up”.

A cohesive, high quality public realm will create attractive new spaces to socialise on the banks of the Union Canal while a wide range of community benefits and fair work proposals will also be delivered.

These will include a £100,000 community fund for projects to enhance the canal towpath, creating park, commissioning local arts projects, work experience placements and apprenticeship opportunities for Boroughmuir High School pupils and the long-term unemployed, and summer internships paying the Real Living Wage.

Councillor Rob Munn, Finance and Resource Convener, said: “An extensive process and strong scrutiny has gone into this procurement process to get us to this point. We’ll look to discuss this at committee next week and hope to agree that we have a pre-development partner in place that shares our vision while also offering us best value.

“Since the purchase of this underused brownfield site, and the development of the new Boroughmuir High School, we now want to deliver more social and affordable housing and space for businesses, particularly creating space for the data driven and digital sectors that are so important to Edinburgh’s economic recovery.

“It’s important that we build affordable homes across the city and in the areas that people want to live so it’s great that these homes are located so close to the city centre.

“The development will provide homes that are both cost effective to heat and wheelchair accessible and will be a mix of council housing and mid-market homes, which will be managed by the council’s Edinburgh Living.”

 Councillor Joan Griffiths, Vice Convener, said: “Seeing our masterplan getting closer to becoming a reality is very exciting and I look forward to seeing the site start to take shape and realise our ambitions for Fountainbridge.

“This development will bring a great regenerative feel to this area of the city and through the community benefits programme we have agreed as part of this development contract we also hope to bring new jobs and training opportunities for local people, offer opportunities for local artists while also enhancing existing public spaces in and around Fountainbridge.”

The Council and its agreed development partner, alongside the local community will work together to finalise the plans for the area over the coming months. Thereafter construction on the site will commence subject to final agreement amongst the parties.

At the end of the pre-development period, should both parties wish to proceed, further Committee approvals will be sought to proceed to the construction phase.

www.edinburgh.gov.uk/fountainbridge