Spring 2022

Councillors recently approved a £15 million contract for the new community hub at Macmillan Square, in partnership with North Edinburgh Arts (NEA).  Complementing the new library, early years centre and affordable housing, the new hub will see arts and learning brought together under one roof in a striking new building offering the community in North Edinburgh an extensive range of services. The project will now enter the construction phase which will be carried out by Robertson Construction Group, following its successful completion of the demolition of Muirhouse Library. In a recent press release, Chair of NEA, Lesley Hinds said: “This new capital project will allow the organisation to flourish, alongside Council provision, and bring a first-class facility to Macmillan Square."
The image shows a section view. 

An 'Open Day' for neighbours and others is to be held at Papple on Tuesday 26th April, 12noon-3pm, and our drawings will be on hand as will we, to answer questions.  Originally owned by the Balfour family it is a largely disused example of the model farms of the agricultural improvement movement, and the project will combine an agricultural heritage museum, a business conference centre and some residential accommodation. We are about to submit a planning application. 

A sample façade lighting panel for the Filmhouse was made and transported by a squad from the office to Festival Square, so that planners could assess the impact both during daylight and night-time of degrees of illumination. We have now come to a provisional agreement on the maximum amount of illumination that the façade can have. This is the last issue to be resolved so we are now hoping to resubmit an amendment to our original planning application next month.

Following our appointment at the end of last year our feasibility study for the Lemon Tree arts venue in Aberdeen was completed and submitted at the end of last month. Once the report has been approved by the client we hope to be able to publish our initial designs on our website and in the next newsletter.

The design team are now getting their teeth into the detailed design of the project. Surveys have been completed and investigations on-site are underway. For those who are interested in seeing inside the building (it has been "off-limits" for a number of years) it is the venue for this year's Hidden Door Festival  in June and in particular a "pianodrome" project.  The design team are working towards a completion date of the summer of 2026 and a revised planning application is due to be submitted at the end of this month. The image shows the three main performance spaces and the new undercroft foyer and connecting staircases.  

The building's steel work is now all but complete. The photograph from the dockside has The Wylliem to the left, the ferry terminal to the right and Scott's restaurant on the top.

Our newsletter readers in Ireland will be familiar with the Irish tv series 'Incredible Homes'.  The production unit have decided to come to Scotland and will be filming and interviewing Richard Murphy in his own house at Hart Street in May. 

The high point of a party thrown by CALA in their last remaining penthouse for sale in 'the Crescent' at the rear of the former Donaldson's School was Nicola Benedetti performing a Bach Cantata, some of which was captured by Richard on his phone. 

Richard with architect and fellow RSA Academician, Charlie Sutherland, travelled to Porto to interview Eduardo Souto de Moura in advance of the 2023 Discourse (at the third attempt, Covid having caused the cancellation of the first two attempts). Rafael Moneo will present this years Discourse on 27 April, 2022 and information can be found on the RSA's website. 

Richard has been invited to lecture at the international architecture festival MantovArchitettura in Mantova, Italy, in May.  
 

The practice will be exhibiting four projects in this year's Annual Exhibition which post-lockdown, returns to being a physical exhibition (and digital). The exhibition runs from 23 April to 12 June, 2022.

The crisis in Ukraine has touched the hearts of everyone but we were cheered to see the façade of our theatre in Perth put to such excellent use.