Stead’s Place, Leith (Revised application)
Posted on: January 27, 2021
Cockburn response to revised application for Stead’s Place, a 1.5 hectare site at the foot of Leith walk, proposing the clearance of light industrial buildings, residential redevelopment and access improvements.
Brief Description: Revised application for Stead’s Place, a 1.5 hectare site at the foot of Leith walk, proposing the clearance of light industrial buildings, residential redevelopment and access improvements.
Planning Ref No: 20/05553/FUL
Application Closing Date: Fri 11 Dec 2020
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Cockburn Response
The Cockburn has studied this application and offers the following comments which should be read an as OBJECTION to the proposals on design grounds. We support the retention of the street front building and the redevelopment of the rear site in principle.
We recollect the previous proposals to clear the entire site, demolishing the two-storey sandstone and granite 1933 building for the London Midland & Scottish Railway Company by architect H Gildard White and erect student accommodation, hotel and a flatted development. This scheme was rejected at appeal largely due to the proposal largely to the demolition of the Gildard building which contributed positively to the character of the Leith Conservation Area.
We are pleased that the building is to be retained and re-used.
We support in principle the redevelopment of the single storey steel sheds to the rear of the 1933 building and agree that it is a very suitable site for housing. However, we find that the paucity of design aspiration and the banality and blandness of the proposed new tenements is so poor that the Cockburn would wish to object the proposals on design grounds citing Policy Des One: Design Quality and Context and Policy Des 3 Development Design – Incorporating and Enhancing Existing and Potential.
We would advocate a fresh start, taking some inspiration from developments underway in and around Bonnington. Whilst we do not object to the overall scale, a low-rise higher density approach might offer better solutions or a mixed-scale blend. Greater integration with the former rail line to the north would add value as would a reduction in hard landscape areas.
We would also wish to object to the very limited mix of house sizes in the proposal. The current and projected housing need in Leith walk area is for both one, two and three bedroom types providing for both single person and larger households. Indeed this location is ideally suited to a colony style as opposed to more of the existing and predominant 4/5 story tenement style, so catering for a broader mix of household types, which is after all such an important ingredient of high quality places.