August 14 2023

A bid to build 11 flats and maisonettes at Eyre Place in Edinburgh has been recommended for approval subject to committee referral as part of the land lies in the ownership of the council.

The approval comes despite the loss of open space at the site, formerly host to Smithie's Ale House but which now lies derelict.

Awarding consent the planners wrote: "The proposal makes provision for 144 sqm of communal garden space for use all residents, including those in existing neighbouring tenements. While the new communal garden represents a 64% reduction of existing open space, there would be a local benefit in delivering shared spaces between existing and new development."

Planned works would see the single-storey building demolished with the loss of 22 trees to be replaced by a kinked two-and-a-half-storey build tracing the line of the street.

Planning drawings by McLaren Murdoch & Hamilton Architects stress how the proposals will re-establish a unified street frontage following the loss of tenements on the site.  

3 Comments

#1 Posted by Ten Y Ment on 14 Aug 2023 at 12:34 PM

It isn't really open space, is it? It's the site of a tenement demolished in the 1980s. It should be a site for housing, but of far greater quality than this design.

#2 Posted by town planner on 14 Aug 2023 at 12:40 PM

Apart from the bland design, why are they so small? They aren't even as high as the four story buildings adjacent. The many valid reasons to increase density in urban areas memo doesn't seem to be reaching Edinburgh.

#3 Posted by cara on 21 Aug 2023 at 10:58 AM

What a godawful piece of soul-less "design"..

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