Projects / Craigmillar Care and Residential, Edinburgh

Client

Keyworkers Living Ltd

Project Description

3DReid has unveiled plans for an intergenerational mixed use development in the heart of Craigmillar, Edinburgh, on behalf of Keyworkers Living Ltd.

Craigmillar Care and Residential Development comprises Purpose Built Student Accommodation, Assisted Living Residences, and Dementia Care Centre.

Intended to respond to the challenges presented by our society’s ageing demographic, the scheme seeks to promote an intergenerational approach to integration of care, in a non-institutional environment, which is positively engaged with the wider community.

The formerly industrial steeply sloping site has lain empty since 2006, previously hosting a warehouse, and before this a brewery. The new collection of buildings aims to carefully repair what has long been a conspicuous gap site within the emerging town-centre of Craigmillar.

In accordance with Craigmillar’s Urban Design Framework, the PBSA and Assisted Living components of the scheme aim to reinstate the street edge to Niddrie Mains Road, with four storeys of new accommodation complete with commercial units, active frontage, and new public realm at their base. The arrangement terraces down to two storeys towards the rear of the site, affording the Dementia Care Facility a more domestically scaled and secluded environment. Each of the blocks are interspersed with a series of characterful external courtyard spaces, with their own distinct landscaping and spatial qualities, engendering a rich and varied environment for residents and staff alike.

Surrounding the site to the North and South are a concentration of B-Listed Art Deco buildings, which are drawn upon to inform both the language and materiality of the development. With a connection to home being of key importance in designing for dementia, the familiar forms of Edinburgh tenemental bay windows punctuate the facades of much of the Dementia Care Facility and the Assisted Living Residences, providing significant access to natural light and taking in picturesque views of Arthur’s Seat to the North, and Craigmillar Castle to the South.

Status

Planning Consent Granted

Project team

Client: Keyworkers Living Ltd
Architect: 3DReid
Landscape: VML Landscape Design
Planning: Rick Finc Associates
Structural Engineer: Quattro Consult
M&E Consultant: Cundall
Quantity Surveyor: Currie & Brown
Principal Designer: Currie & Brown
Project Management: Currie & Brown
Transportation: Goodson Associates

Visuals

© 3DReid

Awards

Scottish Design Awards 2020 Finalist Future Building Project