THE housing model, cohousing - which makes a big play of respectful and co-operative neighbours, along with a sharing culture - is being featured in an upcoming festival of architecture in Scotland.
June 11, in Edinburgh, is the date for a session on the subject: at ArchiFringe, here.
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ACQUIRING derelict land for ‘community use’ has now legal precedent, after a judge ruled against an appeal seeking to block its sale.
According to a report published by Community Land Scotland (here) - and later appearing in The Herald newspaper (here) - the land involved is a small patch in St Andrews, Fife, which the Scottish Government ruled (as noted, here) should be sold to a community group, to create a ‘poet’s corner’.
And an appeal against the sale by the site’s owners was rejected by Sheriff Niven Smith.
The BBC reports (here), there is a deadline of Tuesday for a further appeal.
Read the sheriff’s ruling, here.
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PLANS to remove the “barriers on stalled building sites” have been announced by Scotland’s First Minister, in his Programme for Government, 2025-26, announced on Tuesday.
John Swinney told fellow MSPs: “We have heard the concerns of young people about sky-high rents or their difficulties getting on the housing ladder and, as a result, we are taking forward an ambitious series of initiatives which will give tenants more rights and stronger protections, directly support the delivery of more than 8,000 affordable homes, including for social and mid-market rent, and remove barriers on stalled building sites with the potential to deliver up to 20,000 new homes.”
More details as to what exactly these ‘stalled barriers’ are and how they might be addressed are presumably to be announced, in due course.
He added: “Record funding for local government means that they have the resources to address people’s concerns about the state of many public spaces, whether rubbish collection, boarded up high streets, or poor-quality roads. Local action is being supplemented by a national regeneration fund that will support at least 26 projects to renew and restore communities, with a focus on delivering more local jobs.”
Read more, here.
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CONSULTATION ends on Monday, as to whether “the construction of new towns and ‘expanded settlements’ [in the UK] is practicable and achievable”.
The question is being asked by the UK Parliament, which explains: “This modular [consultation] format will allow us to explore the topic of new towns in depth, looking at the full breadth of issues involved in delivering attractive, economically-viable new towns where people will actually want to live, both now and in the decades ahead.”
Read more, here.
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TALKING of new towns, a half day-long conference on new town design codes is being held in Glasgow, on the 11th of next month.
It is taking place at the University of Strathclyde and features - among other others - Sarah Allan, head of Architecture and Urban Design, UK Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government; and David Rudlin, director of Urban Design, Building Design Partnership.
Book here.
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A COMPETITION celebrating Scotland’s housing sector has announced its finalists, ahead of a winners’ ceremony on the 19th of next month.
And among the contenders at the Scottish Home Awards is Edinburgh-based social landlord, Harbour Homes (formerly Port of Leith Housing Association), which is in the running for Social Housing Development of the Year (over 100 units) and also Housing Regeneration Project of the Year.
Both entries are for its development at Chestnut Street on the city’s Granton waterfront. The project’s contractor was CCG and the architect was Edinburgh-based Hackland + Dore.
Check out the full shortlist, here.
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PLANNING is said to be in place for nine flats on a development site in Caldercruix, North Lanarkshire.
The site is going to be auctioned, on Thursday, with a guide price of £165,000 - here.
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RENT controls are to be extended to student accommodation, following amendments to the Housing (Scotland) Bill agreed by the Scottish Parliament’s Local Government, Housing and Planning committee.
Many of the amendments were moved by Conservative MSP, Graham Simpson, and several objections from the Housing Minister, Paul McLennan, were out-voted.
Watch the proceedings from 47:26, here, on video sharing platform, YouTube.
But the Scottish Property Federation (here) says it fears the amendments “threaten to disrupt investment into much-needed new student accommodation”.
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A FARM steading near the Midlothian village of Pathhead, just south of Edinburgh, requires an imaginative design (and planning permission) for a possible collective self-build project.
For offers over £825,000. Check it out, here.
Image details: Sciennes, Edinburgh; copyright Mike Wilson (also editor of BuildEdinburgh.Substack.com)