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 9 August. 

On Wednesday our Director of Design Heather Claridge and Principal Architect Steve Malone journeyed to Stranraer to meet with Scotland’s Towns Partnership for a guided walking tour of the town centre with Dumfries & Galloway Council and to see and hear about a series of initiatives as part of the regeneration of the town.  

The tour started with a visit to the Creative Hub to meet with Janet Jones, Partnership and Engagement Officer of Creative Stranraer. We heard from Janet about how the Hub and community organisation came into being, and the inspiring work they are doing to use art and creativity to engage with the community and as a driver for change across the town.  We heard about the Solway Coast and Marine Project (SCAMP), a coastal and habitat restoration project for South West Scotland. As part of the project a new research facility is proposed on Stranraer’s waterfront to study native oyster beds, seagrass, and salt marshes and investigate the benefits of habitat restoration on climate and biodiversity.  

The George Hotel project

Next we saw plans underway for the redevelopment of the former George Hotel. Designed by Collective Architecture, The George project will deliver a new multi-purpose facility in the old listed building including artist studios, a climbing/bouldering centre and a 30 bed ‘bunk house’ facility. Funded by the Scottish Government and the UK Government’s Levelling Up Fund, the project is designed to deliver benefits to the local economy as well as for health and wellbeing. The scope of the project was established following extensive community engagement, and it will be managed by a community-based organisation. The historic façade is being protected and restored with the new construction built to the rear of the existing George St walls. 

Next we saw plans underway for the redevelopment of the former George Hotel. Designed by Collective Architecture, The George project will deliver a new multi-purpose facility in the old listed building including artist studios, a climbing/bouldering centre and a 30 bed ‘bunk house’ facility. Funded by the Scottish Government and the UK Government’s Levelling Up Fund, the project is designed to deliver benefits to the local economy as well as for health and wellbeing. The scope of the project was established following extensive community engagement, and it will be managed by a community-based organisation. The historic façade is being protected and restored with the new construction built to the rear of the existing George St walls.  

Stranraer Waterfront Regeneration

From there we took the short walk down to the waterfront to visit the Stranraer Water Sports Hub and hear about wider plans for the Stranraer Waterfront Regeneration. The Water Sports Hub project emerged after Stranraer hosted the Skiffie World Championships in 2019. Plans for new build facilities will increase accessibility to waterbased recreation, drive tourism potential and deliver events, training, community activity and regatta facilities.   

Construction is scheduled to start on site in the summer of 2024 and conclude in early summer 2025 in time for Stranraer to again host the Skiffie World Championships from the new flagship facilities. Alongside the Watersports Hub other plans for the waterfront include the proposed expansion of the Marina with over 200 berths established. It will also improve shoreside facilities and access arrangements, including motorhome facilities, and enhance breakwater and wave protection for the whole harbour. 

The unexpected garden

After lunch we finished off the day with a visit to the Unexpected Garden on the edge of the East Pier and to meet Nikki-Marie Vjatschlav who leads the Stranraer Town Team. Nikki spoke enthusiastically about how the garden has grown to become a well-used area for the community and a successful focus for community participation.  

Nikki featured in a recent report by the BBC about how Stranraer is part of the Place Programme, a £50m scheme funded by the Scottish and UK Governments as part of the Borderlands Inclusive Growth Deal. The Council have identified six key projects as part of the Stranraer Borderlands Place Plan which include:  

• East Pier Event Space - smartening up the East Pier, creating a prom to walk, cycle and host events, connecting rail and bus at a transport hub   
• Dick’s Hill Wellbeing Hub - a shared resource for wellbeing, growing skills, social connection and activities  
• Stanctuary Outdoor Nursery - child care provision in outdoor setting. Enable parents to get into work. Provide skills and placements for college students  
• The Big Makeover - transforming the town centre, doing up shopfronts and streetscapes, connecting the town to the waterfront.   
• Revive: Town Centre Living - exploring options to transform empty shops for housing and enterprise.   
• Wet Weather Escapes - indoor family fun in the town centre.  

These will be included as part of the Council’s wider plans for ‘Reshaping Stranraer’ on public display in the town from next week. 

On Thursday, Heather, Alex, Rachel and Saoirse made the trip to Glasgow to record Episode 1 of the Value of Design podcast with Duncan McLean from Land Use Consultancy (LUC) at Hamiltonhill Claypits.

Duncan took us around the Claypits to shed some light on the regeneration project starting from what it was like pre-project to how it all came together. It was fantastic to hear Heather and Duncan’s discussion into the exciting regeneration work that took part in the area. We look forward to sharing more details once the podcast is released. 

On Wednesday Principal Architect Danny Hunter was at St Andrews House for a Learning for Sustainability Indicators Workshop. This followed an initial workshop held back in April, and once again included a wide range of attendees from  EAUC, University of Edinburgh, University of the West of Scotland, University of Strathclyde, WOSDEC , Dumfries and Galloway Council and colleagues from Scottish Government.

The focus of the workshop was to look at the Learning for Sustainability self-evaluation toolkit and determine where the statements from this sat in relation to the 4 Cs, which are:

• Culture - Learner voice, UNCRC, ethos, relationships  
• Curriculum - Learning, teaching, assessment, pedagogy  
• Community - Place, partnerships, families, local action  
• Campus - Buildings, grounds, transport, energy & water use 

This led to some really interesting discussions in the breakout groups, notably around the definition of ‘settings’ and ‘campus’ and it was encouraging to hear ‘whole place approach’ coming from educationalists.  

Education Scotland has recently launched a new webpage on Children’s rights in Scotland. 

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) (Scotland) Act 2024 was enacted on 16 July 2024. The act will ensure that children’s rights are respected and protected in Scotland.  
 
All public bodies and organisations that provide services on behalf of a public body must comply with the legislation - so this relates to all of our work and not just that within the Learning Estate. 

We continue planning for Place Forum 5: What next for place, we publish the first podcast in the Value of Design series and we continue to talk to design professionals and clients on the theme of Value of Design, and much more…