Scottish Building News 2021, Architecture Photos, Property Scotland Images, Architects Design Links

Scottish Architecture News 2021

post updated 5 January 2023

Scottish Architecture Designs – chronological list

Scottish Architecture News – current property design updates

Scottish Architecture News 2021

9 Dec 2021
Artists studio Garage Conversion, Edinburgh, south east Scotland
Design: Konishi Gaffney Architects

photography : ZAC and ZAC
Artists studio Garage Conversion, Edinburgh
The Artists studio Garage Conversion project was to form a new studio space for an artist. Konishi Gaffney Architects repurposed the existing garage, infilled a new floor and the old garage door and fully insulated and improved the interior.

6 Dec 2021
West Town – Vision Unveiled for New Edinburgh Neighbourhood
West Town Edinburgh Property Vision
Space for 7,000 New Homes Plus Commercial and Community Facilities at 205-acre Site in West Edinburgh. The development consortium which owns more than 200 acres of prime development land in the west of Edinburgh has unveiled an ambitious vision for a significant new neighbourhood to be built on the site.

6 Dec 2021
Cammo Meadows by CALA Homes
Cammo Meadows by CALA Homes News
A style of housing intrinsic to the Scottish capital is launching at a development in a sought-after suburb. Cammo Meadows by CALA Homes (East) is the latest destination for the developer’s reimagining of the traditional Edinburgh colony model, which consists of a ground floor apartment with two duplex homes above it, accessed by an external staircase.

3 Dec 2021
House for a Chemist, Seamill, North Ayrshire, Southwest Scotland
Design: Brown & Brown Architects

photo : Edmund Sumner
House in Seamill, North Ayrshire
‘Create a whisper, not a shout’ was the brief given to Brown & Brown Architects by their clients, who have raised their family on the Ayrshire coast within sight of the Isle of Arran, and feel have a deep-rooted connection to this stretch of coastline. It was very important that any new additions were visually subservient to the original house, a traditional Victorian villa of red sandstone, which had faced the elements for more than 150 years.

24 Nov 2021
2021 Saltire Housing Design Awards

photo : Chris Smith
2021 Saltire Society Housing Design Awards Winners
The Saltire Society today announced the shortlisted houses for the 2021 Saltire Housing Design Awards, which celebrate the diversity of the best in new housing in Scotland. Supported by the Scottish Government, the Award recognises the contribution housing makes to social and cultural conversations and rewards innovation.

24 Nov 2021
Digital Transformation for Planning in Scotland
The delivery of the Digital Transformation for Planning in Scotland is well underway, following the programme’s launch in April 2021.
Read the news in full at Edinburgh Building News 2021

21 Nov 2021
The Angus golf resort, hotel and spa design
Design: 3DReid Architects, Edinburgh

image courtesy of architects practice
The Angus golf resort, hotel and spa design
An updated masterplan for a £100m world-class golf resort, hotel and spa in the Angus countryside has been submitted to Angus Council for planning consent by 3DReid architects. The Angus represents one of the biggest hospitality investments in Scotland in recent years and could contribute more than £40m to the local economy per year once it’s operational.

4 Nov 2021
Rainbow Pavilion, Strathclyde Country Park, south east of Glasgow, central Scotland
Design: O’DonnellBrown, Architects with artist Kate V Robertson

photo © Ross Campbell
Rainbow Pavilion in Strathclyde Country Park
Today, to mark Outdoor Classroom Day, a global movement to inspire and celebrate outdoor play and learning, North Lanarkshire Council has unveiled an exciting new addition to its facilities at Strathclyde Country Park: a large multi-use structure and artwork to accommodate and promote outdoor learning and events. It is the result of a creative collaboration between Glasgow-based artist Kate V Robertson and award-winning architects O’DonnellBrown, and the primary schoolchildren of New Monkland Primary School.

3 Nov 2021
UN Centres of Excellence for High-Performance Buildings

29 Oct 2021
Zero-carbon COP26 House opens its doors to the public, Broomielaw, Glasgow

photo courtesy of architects office
Zero-carbon COP26 House Glasgow, Scotland
COP26 House, which demonstrates how beautiful, affordable homes can help meet global climate change ambitions, will open its doors to the public for two weeks only from Monday, 1 November. Built by Glasgow-based regeneration specialists Urban Union for the UN Climate Change Conference, the zero-carbon timber-frame building was developed by Beyond Zero Homes.

28 Oct 2021
UK needs to grow back better to build back better, timber conference to hear

photo courtesy of architecture office
COP26 Wood for Good conference
A focus on sustainable forestry from the ground up could be the key to building back better, one of the leading voices on timber architecture and construction has said ahead of the Wood for Good conference running alongside COP26 next week. Andrew Waugh of Waugh Thistleton Architects, and a pioneer of low-carbon design, said that managing our homegrown timber resources from the forest floor up is critical to supporting growing demand from the construction sector as it looks to more widely adopt sustainable materials.

28 Oct 2021
Climate Change Events in Scotland
Climate Change Events in Scotland

23 Oct 2021
Boreraig House, Galtrigill, Isle of Skye, Inner Hebrides, north west Scotland
Design: Dualchas Architects

photo : Andrew Lee
Boreraig House in Galtrigill, Isle of Skye
The multi-award-winning Boreraig House has been inspired by the Scottish blackhouse, but abstracted in to modern architecture. The client inherited the croft from his mother, and he wanted to build a home that connected with the landscape and the local heritage.

22 Oct 2021
The Glasgow School of Art shares outcome of detailed analysis of options for the Mackintosh Building

photograph © McAteer
Mackintosh Building Options, Glasgow School of Art
The Glasgow School of Art has shared the outcome of a Strategic Outline Business Case (SOBC) for the Mackintosh Project, a rigorous analysis of the options for the Mackintosh Building. Commissioned by the GSA from external consultants (a hub West-led team including Avison Young) the analysis was undertaken in line with the HM Treasury Green Book guidance and Scottish Public Investment Manual.

22 October 2021
Fife College to progress first net-zero college building, Eastern Scotland
Design: Reiach and Hall architects

image courtesy of architects practice
Fife College Dunfermline Campus Building
The Scottish Government has agreed that Fife College can progress to the next stage of its project to deliver the first net zero tertiary education building in Scotland. Having submitted the business case for the new Dunfermline campus in August, Scottish ministers agreed to invest up to £100 million in providing a low carbon, modern, flexible learning space for students.

7 Oct 2021
RHSPT Welcomes Approval Of New National Centre For Music
The Royal High School Preservation Trust (RHSPT) has welcomed today’s decision by the City of Edinburgh Council’s Finance and Resources Committee to approve the restoration of the iconic Thomas Hamilton building on Calton Hill as a world-class centre for music education and public performance for the benefit of the whole of Scotland:
New National Centre For Music Edinburgh

7 Oct 2021
CSIC to showcase the built environment’s role in combatting climate change
Construction Scotland Innovation Centre (CSIC) is set to put the built environment at the heart of addressing climate change by hosting an international showcase that will run alongside the COP26 summit from 1-12 November. Through an extensive programme of activity at its Innovation Factory in Hamilton, CSIC will demonstrate the low and zero-carbon alternatives available to the construction sector and the emerging opportunities to build more sustainably:
Construction Scotland Innovation Centre at COP26

7 Oct 2021
BDP Makes A Return To Edinburgh With Pattern Acquisition

photo courtesy of architects office
BDP returns to Edinburgh with Pattern acquisition
BDP’s recent acquisition of the specialist sports and stadia architecture firm, Pattern Design – the practice delivering Everton FC’s new £500 million waterfront stadium – results in BDP’s return to Edinburgh. Previously, BDP held an Edinburgh office from 2008 to 2011.

10 Sep 2021
Bell Street Stables, Glasgow – wins Historic Environment Scotland Conservation and Climate Change Award

photo © Andrew Lee
Bell Street Stables Glasgow Building
A remarkable conversion of a Victorian council depot to create 52 new homes for affordable rent in the centre of Glasgow has been named as the winner of Historic Environment Scotland’s Conservation and Climate Change Award, a Special Category Award of the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland’s (RIAS) Awards.

10 September 2021
Water’s Edge, Camperdown Street, Dundee, East Scotland
Design: Nicoll Russell Studios

photo : Fraser Band, courtesy of Nicoll Russell Studio architects practice
Water’s Edge Dundee Building
Water’s Edge is the transformation of another industrial building, this time a mid C19th transit shed later extended to double its size, immediately adjacent to Dundee’s Camperdown Dock.

6 Sep 2021
Kelvin Hall television and film studio, Glasgow
Design: Reiach and Hall Architects

image courtesy of architecture practice
Kelvin Hall Glasgow television and film studio
Glasgow City Council secured funding from the Scottish Government to develop a new television and film studio as part of the ongoing refurbishment of the city’s historic Kelvin Hall. The production facility will support Glasgow’s dynamic screen and creative industries sector; an industry estimated to be worth up to £500m to Scotland each year with 60% of its revenue generated in Glasgow.

3 Sep 2021
New National Centre For Music At Old Royal High School, Edinburgh

image courtesy of architects practice
New National Centre For Music Edinburgh
The Royal High School Preservation Trust has submitted detailed proposals to City of Edinburgh Council for the restoration of the iconic Thomas Hamilton building on Calton Hill as a world-class centre for music education and public performance for the benefit of the whole of Scotland. The Trust’s ambitions have evolved into a vision for a new National Centre for Music with clearly defined spaces for classical music education, community access and engagement and performance.

18 Aug 2021
St James Quarter , central Edinburgh
Architects: BDP Glasgow studio + Allan Murray Architects

St James Quarter Edinburgh
BDP has helped complete the delivery of phase one of the new St James Quarter, Edinburgh, working with client Nuveen Real Estate to create a new destination in the heart of the capital. A new and modern 1.7 million sq ft masterplan in urban placemaking, it is one of the UK’s largest inner-city regeneration projects.

10 August 2021
Designing a lower carbon Scotland

Keep Scotland Beautiful partners with Architecture and Design Scotland to develop and deliver bespoke version of accredited Climate Emergency Training

All 26 staff at Architecture and Design Scotland undertook Climate Emergency Training in July as the organisation became one of the first in Scotland’s design and construction sector to take the accredited training, developed with, and provided by environmental charity Keep Scotland Beautiful.

Designing a lower carbon Scotland

Keep Scotland Beautiful is your charity for Scotland’s environment. They work with people to help combat climate change, reduce litter and waste, and protect and enhance the places we care for. They support the ambitions of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.www.keepscotlandbeautiful.org

Keep Scotland Beautiful offers a portfolio of Climate Emergency Training to support organisations, businesses, communities, young people and individuals to understand the climate emergency and respond to the risks, opportunities and responsibilities ahead. Further details at www.keepscotlandbeautiful.org/climate-emergency-training

The Climate Emergency Training will be fully accredited by The Carbon Literacy Project. Carbon Literacy is an awareness of the carbon costs and impacts of everyday activities, and the ability and motivation to reduce emissions, on an individual, community and organisational basis. Further details at https://carbonliteracy.com

27 July 2021
3DReid Student Prize 2021 Winner
Tiia’s project, Cloud Cooperative, tackles the subject of data, challenging the current monopoly on the ownership and storage of our private information. Her response to an infrastructure which is otherwise hidden, inaccessible, remote and abstract is a community-owned research facility that is accessible to all and marries architecture and technology beautifully and responsibly:
3DReid Student Prize 2021 Winner News

27 July 2021
Icebox Challenge Glasgow Design
The Architecture students from The Scott Sutherland School at Robert Gordon University recently won a national competition to design a highly energy efficient buildings that marks the build up to the 2021 UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow: Icebox Challenge Glasgow

23 Jul 2021
Learning & Teaching Building at the University of Strathclyde, central Glasgow
Design: BDP Glasgow Studio, Architects

photograph : David Barbour
Learning and Teaching Building University of Strathclyde
The Learning and Teaching Project is a unique and collective hub for students and staff, comprising a variety of learning and teaching spaces, from small breakout spaces to a 400 seat lecture theatre. The range of spaces is reflective of the varying needs of activities throughout the building.

18 July 2021
Scottish Design Awards 2021 Winners News
Scottish Design Awards 2021 Winners

13 July 2021
Glasgow Queen Street Station Building News

photo : Nick Caville
Glasgow Queen Street Station Building
The constraints of the tunnel throat meant a significant part of the platform extensions would be southward displacing the concourse from beneath the train shed to the area between its fanlight and West George Street. The new concourse’s architecture had to work hard to provide the functionality required.

22 June 2021
Scottish design project makes AJ Architecture Awards shortlist
Calton Hill City Observatory Edinburgh design by HarrisonStevens:

Calton Hill City Observatory in Scotland’s capital has been nominated for an AJ Architecture Award this week. The design by HarrisonStevens, the Edinburgh-based Landscape Architects and Urban Designers, Calton Hill City Observatory has been nominated in the Landscape and Public Realm category in the annual awards:
Edinburgh Building News 2021

9 Jun 2021
Kincardine, Places for Everyone News
A community-led design project in a Fife town has been nominated for a Scottish Design Award. Created by HarrisonStevens, the Edinburgh-based Landscape Architects and Urban Designers, the Kincardine, Places for Everyone project has been nominated in the Future Building or Project category in the annual awards:
Kincardine, Places for Everyone Project

28 May 2021
Pleasure Scene Exhibition – The Digital Culture of Contemporary Architectural Drawings

11 June – 25 July 2021
29 Trafalgar Avenue, London, SE15 6NP, England, UK

Pleasure Scene Exhibition

The inaugural exhibition at Trafalgar Avenue marks the culmination of an 18-month collaborative project bringing together nine artists from across the UK to respond to the iconic modernist ruin, St Peter’s Seminary, Scotland.

20 May 2021
European Award for Architectural Heritage Intervention 2021

rankinfraser landscape architecture are shortlisted for The Dunbar Battery in East Lothian. It is one of ten works in category B – Exterior Spaces – judged by the architects, Delphine Péters, Olga Felip and Isabel Aguirre, after evaluating 49 participating proposals.

The Dunbar Battery, Dunbar, Scotland, United Kingdom. rankinfraser landscape architecture

photo © rankinfraser landscape architecture

The 5th edition of European Award for Architectural Heritage Intervention, with a success of participation that coincides with the celebration of its 10th anniversary, publishes the names of those shortlisted in the a and b categories.

European Award for Architectural Heritage Intervention 2021

11 May 2021
First Passivhaus Primary School, Perth and Kinross
Design: Architype Architects

image courtesy of architecture practice
North Perth Passivhaus Primary School
The school, which will replace both the current North Muirton and Balhousie Primary Schools, is being delivered by Robertson Construction Tayside on behalf of hub East Central with Architype as both Lead Consultant and Passivhaus Designer.

23 Apr 2021

New leisure centre in Ayr

hub Southwest and contractor, BAM, set to revive Ayr town centre with construction of new leisure facility

Work to develop a new leisure centre in Ayr is progressing following South Ayrshire Council’s appointment of hub Southwest, the construction and infrastructure-focused partnership which operates alongside local Authorities and private sector enterprises in Lanarkshire, Ayrshire and Dumfries and Galloway:

Read the news in full at New leisure centre in Ayr

2 Apr 2021

Trust objects to plan for 82 houses and a ‘visitor centre’ adjacent to The Pineapple, Hill of Airth

Conservation charity the National Trust for Scotland has lodged a formal objection to a planning application lodged by George Russell Construction for a housing development at Mains Farm, Airth, directly adjacent to The Pineapple and the historic Dunmore Estate. Dating to 1761, The A-Listed Pineapple is one of Scotland’s most exotic and celebrated buildings and was constructed by the Earl of Dunmore amid a purpose-designed landscape. The property has been in the Trust’s care since 1973.

The Pineapple, Dunmore Estate:

photo © The Dunmore Pineapple, Falkirk. David Robertson 1999, National Trust for Scotland

An unsolicited proposal for a visitor centre along with 22 houses was made public in 2018 and the Trust entered into correspondence with the developer. Contrary to the impression given in the developer’s Design and Access Statement, the Trust did not endorse the proposals and merely requested assurances on the ecological impact on rare species as well as clarification on the purpose of the visitor centre. No such assurances were forthcoming and the developer eventually withdrew the planning application for this initial scheme.

The new application, which is now under consideration by Falkirk Council, almost quadruples the number of proposed houses to 82. The overall scheme causes the Trust great concern for the integrity and setting of the landscape around the Pineapple, as well as the threat to wildlife. It is also the Trust’s view that a development in this location would set a planning precedent that may mean more of the area being re-zoned for development.

The National Trust for Scotland’s Chief Executive, Phil Long said:

“The Pineapple is one of the most significant buildings in Scotland and its unique ambience is dependent on its setting within Dunmore Park with its woodland and abundant wildlife.

“It is clear to us that this development scheme would have a hugely adverse impact on the site, which is designated within the Inventory of Gardens and Designed Landscapes in Scotland. As we have seen all too often, inappropriately-scaled and sited developments have impaired or overwhelmed many important historic and natural landscapes and it’s our obligation to ensure that this does not happen to The Pineapple.”

2 Mar 2021
Radisson Hotel Objection News

From Architect Alan Dunlop:

As the architect and designer of the Radisson SAS, a project that has garnered many architecture and hotel design awards, nationally and internationally. I write to object in the strongest possible terms to these proposals.

photograph : Andrew Lee

Read Professor Alan Dunlop’s objection in full at Radisson Hotel Glasgow

Readers comments welcome – this is one of gm+ad’s major works, the planning submission pushes the glass volume out into the street, and creates a new entrance at the north west corner. Alan Dunlop’s original design gave back space to Argyle Street, encouraging a generous approach to the public realm in the heart of Scotland’s largest city.

26 Feb 2021
Lower Tullochgrue, Aviemore, northern Scotland
Design: Brown & Brown Architects

photograph © Gillian Hayes
Lower Tullochgrue, Aviemore
Lower Tullochgrue is the refurbishment and extension of a traditional house in the heart of the Cairngorms National Park. A dilapidated steading has been replaced by a contemporary extension, with a timber and glass upper volume above a stone plinth, with the existing topography of the site maintained at all times.

26 Feb 2021
Strone Cottage, Scottish Highlands
Design: Loader Monteith Architects

photography : Nigel Rigden and Gillian Hayes
Strone Cottage, Scottish Highlands
The Strone Cottage is the adaptive restoration and extension of a highland bothy in the Cairngorm Mountains of Scotland.

12 Feb 2021
Upper Parkbrae House, Oyne, Aberdeenshire, Northeast Scotland
Design: Brown & Brown Architects

photograph © Nigel Rigden
Upper Parkbrae House, Aberdeenshire
This contemporary Scottish property design is comprised of a timber and glass box, which is cantilevered above the landscape, and sited on a stone wall which runs both inside and outside of the building.