CRAIGMILLAR TOWN CENTRE, EDINBURGH

CCG has been operational in the town of Craigmillar since 2015 having created five residential developments totalling nearly 600 mixed-tenure homes, significantly contributing to the regeneration of this bustling Edinburgh community.

The 194 homes that have been conceived from the latest phase of regeneration have been done so via a partnership philosophy to affordable housing delivery whereby the City of Edinburgh Council adopted a pilot approach to procurement (set forth in 2017) to create homes to an enhanced quality standard, best value and speed to help inform future housing strategy across the local authority.

CCG worked with design partners Anderson Bell Christie to design a masterplan based upon the parameters of meeting housing demand, designing homes that were optimised for the end-user, as well as being able to integrate with the wider town centre masterplan via the provision of pedestrian and cycle routes and improved standards of green space. The resultant housing mix then provided a housing 1-bed, 2-person flats through to 5-bedroom,7-person houses available for social and mid-market rent, each with a tenure-blind approach to design.

Through the utilisation of a pre-qualified approach to procurement, an estimated 20 months was saved from the overall design process and pre-construction programme.

CCG utilised the ‘iQ’ Timber System for the entirety of the build – achieving full wind and watertight status within a net period of 32 weeks – whilst integrating construction services via CCG Manufacturing (internal, common and close entrance door sets), CCG Asset Management (plumbing) and solar PV provision via group member, Arc-Tech (Scotland).

The overall contribution of CCG’s enhanced construction detailing and the use of renewable services helped the development achieve Silver Compliance for ‘Section 7 – Sustainability’ of the Scottish Building standards with the exception of 6 ‘pilot’ plots that were delivered to ‘Gold’ Aspect 1. The pilot homes, supported by Carbon Futures and the Glasgow School of Art Mackintosh Environmental Architecture Research Unit, have been used as a testbed for the Council in understanding the future requirements to reach enhanced environmental performance with the dwellings achieving a 27% reduction in CO2 emissions over the current Silver Level standard.

A wide range of community benefit initiatives were delivered by CCG as a result of our involvement in this development including the creation of 6 new jobs, 3 trade apprenticeships, 14 work placements, curriculum support for local schools and a £20,000 donation of services for the creation of a car park in Niddrie Mill.

Client:
The City of Edinburgh Council

Value:
£26million

Awards:
Scottish Home Awards Housing Regeneration Project of the Year 2021