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Other features of the new building include a public park, which will sit on the banks of the Union Canal.
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CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » General Edinburgh
"Work starts on new £35m Boroughmuir High School"
(236 posts)-
Posted 9 years ago #
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No wonder the artists's impression shows the school so crowded, the site is tiny when you see it up close (and even tinier when you see it from afar).
Anyone have any gen on what's to happen to the old school? Converted into luxury "apartments"*?
*marketspeak for flats
Posted 9 years ago # -
Yep, they've 'Haras-ed' off that nice park that created a nice cut thru from Dundee St to the Canal.
So now you have to make a weird Z-shaped dogleg around the Bainfield student res to avoid the one way street at the top.
Back to the same ol' same ol' then
TIE
Posted 9 years ago # -
There is another school currently being built in Edinburgh, on Portobello Park. Right next to a cycle route which connects to Porty Prom on one side, and the (off-road) Bingham stretch of national cycle network route 76 on the other (leads to Innocent path and Brunstane).
Posted 9 years ago # -
Oh here's a vid of the turf cutting ceremony for the new Porty High:
[+] Embed the video | Video Download Get the Flash Video And another from six years ago, by a pupil, making the case for a new school. That was before all the nimbyism started, the laval challenges, the bill presented to parliament, etc.
[+] Embed the video | Video Download Get the Flash Video Posted 9 years ago # -
Does no one else think that cyclists who need to access the canal from Fountainbridge deserve better than 50yds of muddy track and a kerb to hop over during these works?
Posted 9 years ago # -
Can we not use the path from opposite the exit from Fountain Park? (the one shown on the right hand side of edd1e_h's first picture). Or is this not shared use?
Posted 9 years ago # -
@ianfieldhouse
All the paved paths from Dundee St @Fountainpark to the canal are now blocked off by fencing.
Posted 9 years ago # -
Ah, I see. In that case I guess the only options (other than the muddy path) are the entry points a Viewforth and Harrison Park East; not massive detours really.
I'm surprised they are allowed to fence off that path I mentioned. Or is it a case of them just doing it anyway, do you think?
Posted 9 years ago # -
It seems a paved route through has been opened up as of this evening.
How long will it last...?
Posted 9 years ago # -
"It seems a paved route through has been opened up as of this evening.
How long will it last...?"
Suspect 'permanent', but no idea why so much grass is fenced off.
Posted 9 years ago # -
Will the paved section ever join up with the surfaced part of the towpath? Leaving the gap is just ridiculous.
Posted 9 years ago # -
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@gavincorbett: @CyclingEdin @Edinburgh_CC @scottishcanals @AndrewDBurns I raised this problem on Thursday and access has been re-opened now.
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Posted 9 years ago # -
The paved section doesn't go as far as the surfaced bit of the towpath, as shown in top picvie above. Will the metre or so of grass be left like that to slowly become a muddy mess? I can see the paved section goes to the site boundary. Planning should have ensured agreement in place to join them before approval given. They would never overlook this sort of detail for road access.
Posted 9 years ago # -
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@gavincorbett: @CyclingEdin @Edinburgh_CC @scottishcanals @AndrewDBurns Contract for school also includes new park. I'll recheck timing of fencing though.
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Posted 9 years ago # -
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Sustainable Napier (@SustainableENU)
17/11/2014 08:18
@CyclingEdin Thanks for highlighting. We're tenants, not owners, of Bainfield, but will ask if there's any additional information here."
Posted 9 years ago # -
Completely blocked again this afo.
No reason given, no diversion. Just get on yer bike and hop it somewhere else.
They've also dug up the new path & nice new flat setts at Dundee St. What a waste of money.
#secondclasscitzens
Posted 9 years ago # -
Yup. Blocked last night c 4.30 too.
Posted 9 years ago # -
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Gavin Corbett (@gavincorbett)
17/11/2014 20:44
@CyclingEdin @Edinburgh_CC @planningedin @scottishcanals @AndrewDBurns That's odd. Open today at 2.30 when I went past. I'll chase tomorrow."
Posted 9 years ago # -
"It seems a paved route through has been opened up as of this evening.
How long will it last...?"
Only 4 days!
There is now no access from Gibson Terrace/Bainfield Drive, not even on the muddy path. I spoke to one of the workmen this morning who said that it was all part of their building site and that they couldn't possibly leave any access route to/from the canal.
In the few minutes I was chatting to him I saw three other bikes and numerous pedestrians doing a circuit of the fence to try to access the canal. On pointing that out to him, and suggesting that there should be signs down on Dundee Street so that people would be aware that there was no access, he stated that these had been ordered.
Posted 9 years ago # -
Why did the planning consent not look after this sort of issue? Conditions could have been attached to protect the route or provide alternative. A road closure would never have been overlooked in this manner.
I sometimes despair of the planning "service" in Edinburgh. It really is the weakest I have come across, and given the huge pressure of development in the city planners with a will could easily ensure these sorts of issues were attended to.Posted 9 years ago # -
Well, we've seen how concerned the planning dept are about balancing the needs of the environment and city dwellers against the needs of developers' bank accounts, cf. Craighouse, so it shouldn't come as much surprise if they failed to consider trifling matters such as blocking access for large numbers of the general public. I mean, why on earth are they walking and cycling? Are they poor?
As for developers and builders, a sociopathic match made in hell. Don't expect them to give a flying one.
Posted 9 years ago # -
"it shouldn't come as much surprise if they failed to consider trifling matters such as blocking access for large numbers of the general public"
Indeed.
Perhaps someone who understands where the school is actually going to be, can explain why so much of this has been cordoned off?
I thought the grass was an 'amenity' - not a temporary tidy-up until the school was built??
I
Posted 9 years ago # -
What I don't get is why it seems so hard to keep and extra meter or 2 needed for access open.
As others have said, if this was a road, there is no way that it would be getting closed, especially as I don't imagine that the work on the park will take place until the very end of the building?
Posted 9 years ago # -
"I thought the grass was an 'amenity'"
It is; for the developers: a combination parking area, materials depot, heavy mobile plant manoeuvre dancefloor and waste dump, with the additional option of a gaming-area to play "how far can we push the fence out to encroach on the surrounding paths by leaning old pallets and heavy lengths of pipe against the inside?", as clearly exhibited by the people building next to the sculpture workshop on the Hawthornvale path.
Posted 9 years ago # -
Is this a PFI school or does CEC own the land as well as the planning process?
Posted 9 years ago # -
@chdot The builder I was chatting to said that the land was owned by the council.
Posted 9 years ago # -
Ta.
Posted 9 years ago # -
Council owns the whole lot. From what I understand is the school is in the small rectangular area which has the more permament barrier. The current park area becomes the school playground and the grass rectangle parallel to the canal replaces the park.
But as usual which construction sites, they will take as much space as the can for various portacabins, car park, storage etc.
Posted 9 years ago #
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