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"Historic farmhouse to be demolished for ‘ugly’ flats"

(18 posts)
  • Started 9 years ago by chdot
  • Latest reply from EdinburghCycleCam

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  1. chdot
    Admin

    "

    He said: “Is it really going to be the case that a farmhouse bearing 150 years’ worth of illustrious history with strong local and city-wide connections is to be obliterated forever – to be replaced by an anonymous architect’s concrete and glass bauble of no great merit, [which] will be moth-eaten in a third of that time and carry with it no historic interest whatsoever other than that its construction saw the demise of something greater?”

    The dad also raised fears over related plans to build a road across a popular route local children take to school.

    But developer Chamberlain Bell argued the scheme would pump much-needed cash into the council, which has placed the property on the open market subject to planning permission. And design and technical director Alan Bell pointed out the building is not currently listed by Historic Scotland despite two separate site visits by officials

    "

    http://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/our-region/edinburgh/historic-farmhouse-to-be-demolished-for-ugly-flats-1-4156324

    Posted 9 years ago #

  2. chdot
    Admin

    http://www.comistonfarmhouse.com/

    http://6oxgangsavenueedinburgh.blogspot.co.uk/2016/04/comiston-farmhouse-destruction.html

    http://www.ianmurraymp.co.uk/comiston_farmhouse

    Posted 9 years ago #

  3. Arellcat
    Moderator

    And so begins phase 2 of the trashing of Comiston's history.

    If the farm house is demolished then I will have lost all faith in the planning process in Edinburgh.

    There is absolutely no reason for demolishing it. Imagine the outcry if Comiston House - once the Pentland Hills Hotel, but which was allowed to become semi-derelict in the 1980s and early 1990s, latterly restored and now posh flats - had been earmarked for the wrecking ball. But the farm house isn't worth listing, isn't it? It's just a former children's home. Forget about the generations of families who grew up there. Forget about the nurseries on which the banana flats now stand. Forget about any of the farm's history.

    Note, too, the appalling condition of the Comiston Springs wellheads in the former Hunter's Tryst school grounds. It took years to get the Sandglass spring repaired, and only after trees had half-destroyed the stonework already.

    Posted 9 years ago #

  4. Baldcyclist
    Member

    Is the farm building actually required, or serve any useful purpose?
    Yes - use it for what it is useful for.
    No - knock it down and put something more useful in it's place.

    The main objection of the MP seems to be that 37 rich people will get to live in flats on a nice estate. Where as the other 'listed' buildings on the estate have, or are being converted for fewer, but even richer people to live in.

    Posted 9 years ago #

  5. Arellcat
    Moderator

    Is the farm building actually required, or serve any useful purpose?

    It's a perfectly good solid stone house that can be converted instead of demolished.

    Posted 9 years ago #

  6. chdot
    Admin

    "It's a perfectly good solid stone house that can be converted instead of demolished"

    Yeah but, Edinburgh is full of such things...

    Posted 9 years ago #

  7. chdot
    Admin

    Perhaps it should be a 'home' version of http://rlsmuseum.org and get the objects, and tourists away from http://www.edinburghmuseums.org.uk/Venues/The-Writers--Museum/Collections/Writers--Collections/Robert-Louis-Stevenson-Collections

    Posted 9 years ago #

  8. chdot
    Admin

    "Comiston Springs wellheads "

    Posted 9 years ago #

  9. Morningsider
    Member

    The building could be converted into nice flats and a healthy profit turned (the Council were selling it for a song and local house prices are sky high). However, an even bigger profit could be turned by knocking it down and building lots shoe boxes.

    Why should our precious urban environment be despoiled, just so a few can make obscene profits? So what if it isn't listed - has it really came to the point where nice, older buildings need some special protection to save them from the wrecking ball.

    Posted 9 years ago #

  10. Dave
    Member

    I'm sceptical about the idea that everything old needs to be preserved for eternity simply because it's old (and inevitably everything old will have some memory attached to it).

    At the end of the day, the prices attached to these things show us that the old building is valued far less than a replacement. I don't have any idea about this one building in particular, but just my general feeling.

    There are plenty of people concerned about the environment, but replacing old buildings with a horrendous carbon footprint with new ones is taboo to many of them, an interesting contradiction.

    Posted 9 years ago #

  11. amir
    Member

    "There are plenty of people concerned about the environment, but replacing old buildings with a horrendous carbon footprint with new ones is taboo to many of them, an interesting contradiction. "

    Not completely:

    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/green-living-blog/2010/oct/14/carbon-footprint-house

    Posted 9 years ago #

  12. neddie
    Member

    And the roads around Comiston still reflect the names of the springs:

    - Fox Spring Cres
    - Swan Spring Ave
    - Comiston Springs Ave

    https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@55.9093658,-3.214393,17.5z

    Posted 9 years ago #

  13. chdot
    Admin

    @ amir

    Interesting link.

    Of course here it's not about refurbish an old house or replace with similar.

    The wider issues here include 'doing whatever makes the most money', CEC's general stewardship of its assets (or is it assets it looks after for Edinburgh's residents??), need for housing, 'presumption for development' and the planning process generally.

    It's unlikely many lessons will be learned from Craig House/Craighouse, Redford House or even Duncan Place.

    It would seem CEC has no intention of looking for alternative uses, so largest development the Planning Committee will allow, or something else?

    Posted 9 years ago #

  14. chdot
    Admin

    "And the roads around Comiston still reflect the names of the springs:"

    Yes.

    A visitor centre combining RLS with 'a history of Edinburgh's water supply' would be great, but would need imagination, lots of voluntary effort and a large Lottery grant.

    Posted 9 years ago #

  15. chdot
    Admin

    http://6oxgangsavenueedinburgh.blogspot.co.uk/2016/06/comiston-farmhouse-update-planning.html

    Posted 9 years ago #

  16. chdot
    Admin

    https://twitter.com/ProfScottThinks/status/916259778711650304

    Posted 7 years ago #

  17. cb
    Member

    Comiston Farm House for sale on the ESPC

    POA

    "The City of Edinburgh Council planning department has indicated that they may consider, in principle, further development of up to three additional residential dwellings subject to planning permission. The detached property, although not listed or within a conservation area, should be retained due to the local and historical significance."

    "should"

    Posted 7 years ago #

  18. EdinburghCycleCam
    Member

    "Price on Application" - bah. "A lot" then :P

    Posted 7 years ago #

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