May 30 2022

A former WW1 naval barracks sitting in the shadow of the Queensferry Crossing has been lined up for 49 homes under plans submitted by Lar Housing Trust.

Fresh from plans to renovate a canalside industrial works in Ruchill the charitable landlord has turned its attention to Port Edgar to deliver more homes at mid-market rent.

The B-listed buildings have been derelict since 2011, having latterly been in use as storage space for the Museum of Scotland, with the array of red-brick barracks is classified as 'at risk' on the Buildings At Risk Register. Despite this the buildings are assessed to be in reasonable shape structurally, easing the process of conversion and alteration to apartments.

Under the plans a guard house will be preserved as a solitary serviced apartment with the old boiler house turned into a cafe. A further structure, identified as unsuited for habitation, would be turned into a meeting room, workshop or storage space. Replica plastic sash and case windows will replace the existing rotted single glazed frames.

In a statement Lar wrote: "With a presumption in favour of retaining the existing listed budlings and balancing this against viable future use of the site, the application meets the principles and requirements of the Edinburgh Design Guide for residential amenity, and meets the Design Guide recommendations generally, whilst balancing these against the presumption in favour of retaining the existing listed buildings.

"As a conversion of existing derelict buildings, this site can be delivered in much shorter timescales than new-build developments, which will assist in the much needed delivery of new, affordable, energy efficient homes, whilst delivering green homes by removing carbon emissions from construction by retaining the embodied carbon in the existing buildings rather than demolishing and constructing new buildings."

Proposals call for a 'wave return wall' built on top of an existing breakwater to mitigate against storm surges and rising sea levels.  

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