Hypostyle Architects Glasgow Edinburgh

North Fort Street

20 affordable homes in Leith for Places for People. Sixteen flats are accessed from two common stairs, and four wheelchair units are located on the ground floor all with main door access.

The built form follows the tried and trusted pattern of the tenement. It is five storeys high, addresses the street in a linear arrangement and respects the existing building line. The principal elevation to the street is a considered composition of a number of legible elements each of contrasting scale. Allowing the building to respond both to the city and the street as well as relate to the human scale of the householder or passer by.

Internally accommodation to the mainstream units has been planned with the public rooms facing onto the street and many of the units have spectacular views across the city to the west. This is exploited by the use of full height glazing to the public rooms. To the rear and adjacent to a generous and sheltered walled garden there is secure off street parking. The garden includes play provision for younger children.

The material palette, mainly of cast stone, timber lining and zinc helps in establishing the warm friendly character of the building. Historic context is referenced and interpreted through the general massing and in particular through the roof form and the use of dormer windows.

The contemporary design, with its local references and carefully planned external spaces, has created a building with distinctive character, and provides cost effective, high quality homes for people to live in.

The housing is designed to HFVN standards and to achieve Secured by Design accreditation.

The project was completed in 2007 and has received positive feedback from the client and residents. The project was also short-listed for the Saltire Society Housing Design Award 2008.

Project Value: £1.5million

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