Cockburn Association – Page 2 – The NEN

Visit Edinburgh University this Doors Open Days weekend (virtually, of course!)

The University of Edinburgh is proud to be part of Edinburgh and East Lothian Doors Open Days, organised by the Cockburn Association.

This year, due to the ongoing need for physical distancing, Doors Open Days will be online. We hope you enjoy learning about our buildings from the comfort of your home.

Available virtual and video tours

Edinburgh Futures Institute – tour

The King’s Buildings – website and tour

McEwan Hall – video

MRC Institute of Genetics & Molecular Medicine – behind the scenes tour

St Cecilia’s Hall – website and video

Talbot Rice Gallery – video

The Anatomical Museum – video

The Bayes Centre – website and videos

School of Informatics – website and video tour

Easter Bush Campus – website and video tours

Edinburgh College of Art – virtual tour

Institute for Regeneration and Repair, Centre for Regenerative Medicine – virtual tour

George Square and Holyrood Campus – virtual tours of eleven buildings

The Edinburgh Doors Open Day 2020 gives you the chance to discover some of Edinburgh’s most unique and interesting buildings, which are normally closed to the public.

Across the weekend you can discover some fantastic sites across the city, completely free of charge and from the warmth of your own home – as this year’s event goes digital!

Celebrating its 30th Anniversary this year, this is your chance to explore some of Edinburgh’s most important buildings virtually. Many venues will offer behind the scenes tours, talks or exhibitions to bring the history of these monumental buildings to life.

Read about all of these places and more on the Doors Open Days website.

City for Sale?

The commodification of our public places

One of the defining issues currently in front of the City of Edinburgh is how we value our public places. Should Princes Street Gardens be an oasis of green-ness and tranquillity, or should it be the city’s performance hub, the Go To place for happening events and Festival activities?

Should civic spaces be open for the unrestricted access of City dwellers and City visitors alike; or should they be a gated venue accessible only to ticket holders and promoters?

How we value public space is how we value the city overall. The Cockburn Association has been increasingly concerned about the commercialisation of our squares, our parks and our streets. We are concerned about the erosion of public investment in public places.

We are concerned that the voice of residents is decreasingly heard. We are concerned that this view is shared by many. Is this right?

As the city prepares numerous strategies and policies including City Plan 2030 (a new Local Development Plan) and a new Tourism Strategy, now is the time to galvanise opinion.

On Wednesday 22 January 2020, we will hold a Public Summit in the Central Hall, West Tollcross, open to all who share our concerns (and those who don’t too).

Save the Date. Further details will be available in early 2020.

Terry Levinthal

Director, The Cockburn Association

Edinburgh Civic Trust

Leith Walk: the Cockburn Association view

“It’s hard to see how erasing all the buildings along Leith Walk will preserve or enhance anything. Once heritage is lost it is very hard to replace.”

Leith has always been Edinburgh’s port and still retains a distinctive quality of its own even though it has changed significantly in recent years. It has been reinvented as a lively centre of urban living, a good food destination, and as a hub of creative activity and cultural diversity. Continue reading Leith Walk: the Cockburn Association view

Come On In!

Edinburgh Doors Open Days Saturday 23rd & Sunday 24th September

Edinburgh Doors Open Day is your chance to explore some of Edinburgh’s architecturally and culturally significant buildings – all for free. From heritage landmarks to the city’s newest architecture, Doors Open Day offers free access to properties that are either not usually open to the public or would normally charge an entry fee. The event also offers the public an opportunity to find out more about the capital’s public buildings.

Have a flick through the brochures (below) and plan your day – you’ll be enthralled!

Edinburgh_DOD_2017

EU doors-open-day-2017

Uncover Edinburgh’s lost past on Doors Open Days

Public invited to see ‘the Edinburgh that never was’

Historic Environment Scotland is throwing open the doors of the National Record of Scotland this weekend to reveal the hidden gems of Edinburgh’s past. Leith’s Trinity House Maritime Museum will also open its doors as part of the Scottish Civic Trust’s popular Doors Open Days programme, assembled by the Cockburn Association.

Edinburgh residents are invited to John Sinclair House on Saturday to explore the national records of architecture, design, archaeology and industry. There they will have the chance to see Edinburgh as it has never been seen before with behind the scenes tours, talks and exhibitions.

Highlights include a never before seen exhibition of Edinburgh’s historic cemeteries taken by American art curator Robert Reinhardt, and an exclusive preview of HES’s new Paul Shillabeer collection, which captures Edinburgh in the 1950s and 1960s.

Exclusive talks include ‘Unbuilt Edinburgh’, an opportunity to see how an alternative Edinburgh may have looked. The talk will focus on unbuilt projects for central Edinburgh, starting with designs by Robert Adam in the 1780s’s and travelling through to the present day.

Neil Gregory, Architecture and Industry Operational Manager at Historic Environment Scotland, said: “We’ve been curating the Scottish National Record of the Historic Environment for over a century, and it comprises over 5 million photographs, drawings and manuscripts. Doors Open Day is a great opportunity for members of the public to come and explore what we’ve got to offer. This year, we’re excited to be giving people a trip down memory lane to see photographs of how Edinburgh used to look, architectural models that have never before been on public display, as well as talks exploring plans for buildings that never made it from the drawing board to our streets.”

HES are also inviting members of the public to get hands on with history by using and adding to the National Record. Demonstrations of the Scotland’s Places and Scran websites will show visitors resources that they can use when conducting their own historical research, and the team from Scotland’s Urban Past will be on hand with information on how to become an Urban Detective.

Meanwhile in Leith, Trinity House Maritime Museum will also be opening its doors to the public. In its bicentenary year, visitors are invited to gain insight into the stories and voyages of Leith’s seafaring past with self-led tours, object handling sessions, quizzes and a free stained glass craft activity.

To mark the Year of Architecture, Innovation and Design, Trinity House will also have a temporary exhibition for visitors to enjoy, exploring 200 years of Leith’s nautical heritage. There will also be opportunities to meet painting conservators and find out more about the work they do to care for HES’s significant collection of paintings.

John Sinclair House is open on Saturday 24^th September, 9.30am – 4.30pm.

Trinity House Maritime Museum is open on Saturday 24 & Sunday 25^th September, 10am – 4pm.

For the full programme of buildings opening across Scotland, visit the Doors Open Days website http://www.doorsopendays.org.uk/

And here’s one that’s very close to home …

Ends

Edinburgh Doors Open weekend: come on in!

Edinburgh Doors Open Day takes place this weekend (26 & 27 September) and this year is following the theme of ‘Edinburgh’s Food & Drink’.

Doors Open Day is a celebration of Edinburgh’s architecture, culture and heritage and has been organised by The Cockburn Association (Edinburgh’s Civic Trust) since 1991.

Over 100 venues to will throw open their doors over the weekend, with something to suit the taste of just about everyone: there are the regular favourites, new venues and interesting spaces and activities to celebrate the 25th year of the popular event.

North Edinburgh Arts is among the local venues getting involved this year:

North Edinburgh Arts is delighted to be taking part in Doors Open Day 2015. We are ideally situated between the Royal Botanic Gardens (number 32) and the National Museums Collection Centre (number 31) so why not make a morning tour of the North Edinburgh venues and pop in for a cake and freshly ground coffee in our community café.

Guided tours of our award-winning garden will be starting at 11am and 1pm this Saturday (26 September). Our ship-themed sandpits will keep the kids amused for hours too, with buckets and spades available to use (refundable deposit is required). We are number 30 on the map.

To find out what’s on offer across Edinburgh this weekend, see brochure (below)

Edinburgh Doors Open Day 2015 Brochure