THIS was meant to be a feature about designing for dementia, as it applied to a relatively new residential apartment block in the middle of the Clackmannanshire town of Alloa, opposite a historically sensitive site: a Grade A-listed former swimming pool and gymnasium, now a library and local authority offices.
Instead, it’s become a feature about having the humility to reach out.
Plus, having the permission - in the context of recent government enthusiasm for ‘placemaking’ - to reach for the stars.
There was already planning approval in place for the plot (which was owned by the council): a residential development, with a supermarket taking up the ground floor and car parking to its front.
But when the original developer announced they were opting for another site, it was all that Clackmannanshire principal placemaking officer, Grant Baxter, needed to make his move.
He wanted a building defining the streetscape, hard up against the pavement, not separated by a moat of car park asphalt.
And then came the masterstroke. It began with a conversation with the Scottish Government advisory body, Architecture & Design Scotland, continued with on what was an ongoing conversation with one Scotland’s best-known housing associations, Fife-based Kingdom Housing Association, and followed up with making contact with the Dementia Services Development Centre at the nearby University of Stirling,
Baxter’s own council colleagues - in housing - had made it clear there was a particular shortage of housing appropriate for older people in the town. And while the town centre location meant some initial concerns (noise, personal safety, etc), these proved to be anxieties that could be directly responded to by design.
Scottish Government policy on placemaking might have its sceptics, but for Baxter it provided the necessary context to set the tone, from the outset: that Primrose Place (previously known as Primrose Street) could not be about accepting second-best.
That he found, among his invitees, immediately willing accomplices, he nevertheless knew he had a trump card up his sleeve in the event of any reservations: read the policies.
Begins Baxter: “Once you had taken part in any of our workshops, you couldn’t fail to see what was right for the development. We were fortunate in that there was no private developer involved who had done these types of sites 30 times before and would not be persuaded from their tried and tested.
“Maybe in the past, development of any type in the town was assumed to be always a good thing. But maybe a line in the sand has been drawn, with Scottish Government policies clearly aimed at delivering excellent design in every town.
“My team certainly believe we have permission to push ahead with town centre masterplanning.”
“What I like most about Primrose Place is how it sits within the whole area. The parts all fit together. We knew that housing alone would not be enough, although of course that option existed and we could easily have settled for that, and patted ourselves on the back.
“We needed the building to sit in a streetscape and make it work, as a place, for everyone: residents, people coming into Alloa to work and for other visitors.
“The health and well-being aspect came into our reckoning very early on. And seeing it in action, it struck me that designing-for-dementia is really designing-for-everyone; there’s so much common sense to it.
“We were designing for more than just housing: the communal spaces, the garden and, of course, car parking needed to sit correctly in a site of significant importance to the town.
It was Baxter reaching out to A&DS - during an informal conversation at a conference in Glasgow - that got the ‘ball rolling’.
“I basically said: ‘Look, we are a small local authority, with limited resources, and we don’t want ‘Just good enough’. Can you help? And to A&DS's great credit, we were supported all the way.”
With everyone gathered in the room - including with architects, Bracewell Stirling Consulting - the pieces fell quickly into place.
Notes the A+DS website (here) of the block of 60, one and two-bedroom apartments: “Not only does [Primrose Place] provide a housing solution that meets the needs of a local ageing population, and maximise the time they can remain within their own homes, it has also been a catalyst for regeneration and further improvements around the town centre.”
Continues Bracewell Stirling, here: “As the pivotal project within a wider ‘Living Alloa’, initiative, it set ambitious goals for inter-generational living and the highest level of dementia accreditation whilst reinstating the urban fabric on a substantial brownfield gap site.”
Funding came from a variety of sources, including £4,895,928 from the Scottish Government, towards a total of £8,978,653 - as detailed here.
And since its official opening in February two years ago, Primrose Place has picked up several awards, including a silver medal at the 2023 Scottish Design Awards (Architecture - affordable housing) - here; the 2023 SURF Awards, winner: Most Improved Place, here; the 2023 Scottish Housing Awards (run by the Chartered Institute of Housing), winner: Excellence in development of affordable housing, here; and the 2022 Scotland’s Towns Partnership Awards, winner: Town Centre Living, here.
One particular spin-off improvement to the town centre was to a nearby lane.
Adds Baxter: “It was a lane linking the rail station and the High Street; but it was narrow and ugly. To widen it, we had to negotiate with a landowner, which was quite drawn-out, but we eventually got there.
“Now, you can see from end to end, it is well-lit and feels a lot safer. And it has been turned into public art: local sign writer, Ross Hastie, combining with local artist, Michael Corr, to create an attractive mural that people are very proud of.”
Sounds like another productive collaboration that has yielded a positive return.
Mike Wilson is a member of TheHousingDebate team
Image details: Primrose Place, Alloa; copyright Mike Wilson