The Recap: A weekly update from Architecture and Design Scotland

Welcome to the Recap - a short weekly update blog from Architecture and Design Scotland. This is based on our internal blog that is shared with staff and board members on Fridays. This blog is for the week ending 23 August.

We are delighted to share our very first episode of the Value of Design podcast, “Designing for lasting benefits”.

Value of Design is dedicated to exploring the art and science of creating better places through insightful conversations with leading figures from the worlds of design, architecture and the public sector.

By delving into real-world projects and challenges, the podcast will inform listeners about the crucial role of design in shaping our places and improving life for our communities.

In this first episode, Heather met Duncan McLean – Director of Landscape Architecture at Land Use Consultants (LUC) – at the Hamiltonhill Claypits Local Nature Reserve to take a walk through the Glasgow Canal Regeneration Project and discuss how the project produced lasting benefits for the community.

Please listen, subscribe and rate the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Spotify and Soundcloud.

On Tuesday Principal Architect Danny Hunter and Principal Designer Lesley Riddell Robertson co-delivered our second Shared Learning Event of the year in conjunction with SFT, focusing on Construction Embodied Carbon. This was our highest ever attendance for a Shared Learning Event, with a peak of 130 attendees from Local Authorities across Scotland.

Embodied Carbon is now a criteria of the Learning Estate Investment Programme (LEIP) Phase 3, with a target of less than 600kg CO2/m2. As such, this session was of particular interest to those currently designing to meet these outcomes, and to all those involved in capital projects on the journey to Net Zero.

Leanne Hannah from ARMILA Sustainability Services opened the event and set the scene by looking at considerations to be made at the start of the construction process. This was followed by Lindsey Mitchell and Golnaz Ighany from the Building Design Partnership (BDP) who shared their experience of working through the design development of a live LEIP Phase 3 project at Chryston High School in North Lanarkshire.

Finally, Alan Paul from Fife Council spoke about delivering Dunfermline Learning Campus, which opened to the new school community this week. This project was designed to meet the Net Zero Public Sector Building Standard (NZPSBS) and is Scotland’s first Passivhaus High School and the UK’s largest Passivhaus building.

A short summary report of the event will be available on our website soon. Previous event reports can be found here.

On Monday evening, our Director of Outreach Lynne Lineen attended the British Council’s 90th Anniversary celebrations at the National Gallery in Edinburgh. The event focussed on bringing together cultural leaders from across the world to build relationships, spark collaborations and engage with the wider cultural sector in Scotland.

Architecture and Design Scotland was also well represented at the Festival of Politics event "20 Years of Holyrood" this week. Principal Architect Steve Malone visited the Scottish Parliament’s Debating Chamber to hear the Presiding Officer ‘In conversation with’ Benedetta Tagliabue – architect and widow of the visionary creative Enric Miralles, who designed the Scottish Parliament building. The discussion was followed by a performance by composer and pianist Roberto Cacciapaglia.

The next day, Lynne Lineen, Director of Design Heather Claridge and Communications Manager Saoirse Docherty attended the "20 Years of Holyrood" panel discussion, chaired by Karen Anderson of RIAS and featuring Benedetta Tagliabue, Gordon McGregor, Tavish Scott and Ruairidh Moir.

On Wednesday, Heather Claridge and Principal Landscape Architect Danny McKendry headed far north to Thurso to lead the latest round of Key Agencies Group (KAG) workshops with Highland Council at the UHI Campus. 

These area-based workshops involved the mapping and analysis of the place data for Caithness, in preparation of the production of the Council’s Local Development Plan (LDP) evidence report. 

Fully integrated ‘live’ with the in-person discussions, Steve Malone facilitated a very productive online workshop. Emerging topics included:

• addressing infrastructural and institutional isolation 
• access to markets 
• transitioning with the evolution of Dounray 
• forward looking place branding and year-round tourism 
• sustainable communities and affordable housing 
• balanced energy leadership 

At the 18th International Architecture Exhibition La Biennale di Venezia in 2023, the town of Ravenscraig was included in the Lowlands component of the Scotland + Venice exhibition, “A Fragile Correspondence”.

Now, North Lanarkshire Arts is presenting an exhibition of work – video, film, photography, creative writing and soundscape – which revisits the Ravenscraig context.

The exhibition opens on Saturday 7 September at North Lanarkshire Heritage Centre, Motherwell, alongside an extended learning event to explore Ravenscraig's industrial past, current re-development and a re-imagined future. 

Contributing artists include; Amanda Thomson, Frank McElhinney/Hamshya Rajkumar (Tine) and Andy Summers and Neil McGuire (Architecture Fringe).

We continue planning for "Place Forum 5: What next for place?", we film more videos with design experts for our Value of Design campaign, and we share the first episode of the Value of Design podcast!