Approval secured for 141 Abbeyhill student flats
June 3 2020
Glencairn Properties and Susan Stephen Architects have secured planning approval to proceed with the delivery of 141 student flats at Montrose Terrace, Edinburgh - subject to a detailed specification of external materials, a full landscape plan and details of an exclusion zone to safeguard trees.
Situated on the junction with West Norton Place the stated aim of the project is to complete the street under plans first laid out in the 1800s.
Presently langusihing as brownfield land following closure of a petrol station in 2011 the site requires significant remediation to remove contamination associated with a fuel leak.
Daryl Teague, Glencairn Properties MD, said: “We believe that these proposals are in line with City of Edinburgh Council’s stated aim to deliver purpose-built student accommodation throughout the city, reducing pressure on mainstream housing stock. Montrose Terrace not only makes use of a derelict site but offers a realistic use for the location without placing additional parking or access issues on the immediate community."
In a statement, the city's development management sub-committee wrote: "Purpose-built student accommodation is acceptable in principle in this location. The application site is well served by public transport and the development will not result in an excessive concentration of student accommodation to the detriment of maintaining a balanced community.
"The proposal is of a suitable design, scale, form, massing and density and an appropriate balance has been achieved between retaining reasonable levels of amenity for neighbouring properties and ensuring the development is compatible with the character and appearance of the townscape."
The development will be finished predominantly in natural stone panelling with zinc cladding and glazed curtain walling to the upper floor.
5 Comments
#1 Posted by the mirror man on 3 Jun 2020 at 15:04 PM
Wow, really blown away by this, I actually had to get my magnifying glass out before I noticed the incredibly well disguised top floor, stepped back and clad in something different to reduce the overall mass, just like EVERY other mono-block that gets punted up in Edinburgh these days. Is this a FAD?
#2 Posted by F-ck Students on 4 Jun 2020 at 00:51 AM
Yay! More gentrification of our communities overrun by Oxbridge rejects looking to wreck our social fabric!
#3 Posted by Cadmonkey on 4 Jun 2020 at 12:00 PM
#2 How do you possibly see replacing a vacant petrol station site with student accommodation as a bad thing?
If things were left to the woke generation nothing would improve.
Please get on with your door schedule.
If things were left to the woke generation nothing would improve.
Please get on with your door schedule.
#4 Posted by Bill Cunningham on 5 Jun 2020 at 09:36 AM
Nice to see what looks a well designed block filling this old gap site. However I do wish they would build instead affordable flats for local people. Not enough profit for developers though.
#5 Posted by devilish advocaat on 8 Jun 2020 at 08:52 AM
I studied about 10 years ago. My personal experience, and that of my peers, was that finding accommodation was not overly difficult, and that was before every second development seemed to be a student housing block.
There are obvious benefits to injecting students to gap sites such as this due to the amenities and life that is created, etc, but surely we must be at the saturation point where supply far outweighs demand and we're left with an abundance of not-even-half-full buildings with little opportunity for re-purposing due to the shoebox dimensions they are built to?
There are obvious benefits to injecting students to gap sites such as this due to the amenities and life that is created, etc, but surely we must be at the saturation point where supply far outweighs demand and we're left with an abundance of not-even-half-full buildings with little opportunity for re-purposing due to the shoebox dimensions they are built to?
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