February 25 2021

The City of Edinburgh Council has released the first detailed artist's impressions of a revitalised George Street under its New Town Public Realm Improvements Project.

Widened pavements, landscaped multi-use spaces and a cycle expressway are at the heart of the vision which will largely remove vehicle traffic from the famous street.

A full overhaul by consulting and engineering firm Tetra Tech with LDA Landscape Design will also strip away unnecessary clutter, segregating pedestrians and cyclists with shrubs and hedges. The largely car-free cycle route will then connect to the separate Meadows to George Street and City Centre West to East links.

Councillor Lesley Macinnes said: "These animated concept designs offer an exciting glimpse into what George Street and the surrounding area could look like in 2025 – a welcoming, relaxing and unique space, where people will want to spend time, to visit local shops, cafes and restaurants and to travel to and through the city centre.

"This vision has been years in the making and follows significant engagement with the public and a range of groups representing different interests. It’s essential that its design works for everyone, which is why we’ve spent time ensuring it meets people’s access needs, that it allows residents to go about their daily lives and that it will encourage local businesses to flourish, particularly as we look to make a strong, green recovery from the COVID crisis."

Further refinement of the plans will be carried out in line with public feedback with the finished design going before the city's Transport and Environment Committee in April. All going well the £32m scheme could commence construction by 2023 for completion by 2025.

6 Comments

#1 Posted by Graeme McCormick on 25 Feb 2021 at 10:47 AM

Again illustrations for sunny days. No account taken of our weather.

Is there going to be a separate fund to maintain the flower beds and wash down the seating, road and pavements everyday to keep them pristine? How are deliveries to be handled?

Shame there is no sculpture and water features

#2 Posted by Alex on 25 Feb 2021 at 11:12 AM

Edinburgh has always been a leafy city. The first new town of Edinburgh benefits from substantial green areas with trees in St Andrews Sq. and Charlotte Sq., Princes Street and Queen Street Gardens. George Street was originally designed as the central main street. This public realm improvement project provides an opportunity to expand and link these green spaces with substantial green planting, the proposed planters look too small and modest in scale and design and dwarfed by all the hard standing and surrounding grand buldings. The green landscaping should be given more space in the scheme and designed to be larger in scale and provide multiple benefits, of a standard which matches international best practice. In this time of climate change emergency there is a real opportunity to add a grand avenue of street trees and pocket parks/ rain gardens that will slow surface water run off, improve air quality, provide shelter from the wind, spaces to meet, rest and enjoy biodiversity, high quality horticulture and natural beauty.

#3 Posted by Hilloch on 25 Feb 2021 at 11:45 AM

#2 Well said, agree that planning for mature trees would make this a substantially better place to spend time.

The scheme is a big improvement on previous proposals and great to see the cars (largely) banished.

#4 Posted by Mary Hill on 25 Feb 2021 at 12:58 PM

I'm sure there is very good reason why proper street trees are not being proposed, and it would be interesting to know why.... I think the scheme looks great though.

#5 Posted by town planner on 26 Feb 2021 at 12:50 PM

Like the other comments, the very first thing I thought was where's the trees?! The 'green' part of the design looks like an afterthought.

But what do the Parisians know eh?
https://www.designboom.com/architecture/champs-elysees-plan-pca-stream-01-11-2021/

#6 Posted by The Bairn on 26 Feb 2021 at 13:32 PM

Gee whizz its not really a true representation of Scotlands capital city's daily life, I mean where are all the fattys? sorry persons with a BMI over 30.
Too many non stereotypical people wandering about the streets, if there were copious amounts of slim attractive females walking around (as depicted in the video) I would flit overnight to Edinburgh in a heartbeat!!
I may even sip a cappuccino and admire the 'Golden Turd' glistening in the summer sunshine.

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