Edinburgh's standing in Europe threatened by design 'squabbles'

Published on Wednesday 20 May 2009 22:04

SCOTLAND'S capital is in danger of losing its status as one of the finest cities in Europe, Edinburgh's design champion will warn council leaders today.

Sir Terry Farrell, a world- leading urban designer and architect, is frustrated that "complacency and squabbles" over individual projects have dominated the debate on the city's future.

Sir Terry, speaking at The Festival of Placemaking, a conference marking the end of his five-year term as design champion for Edinburgh, will tell city leaders, architects and planners that, despite some positive changes, debate is being side-tracked by minor issues such as altering shop fronts on Princes Street.

The design guru – whose own work includes the Dean Gallery and the Edinburgh International Conference Centre as well as the MI6 headquarters in London and Beijing South railway station – said: "Edinburgh has been hobbled by a sterile debate that focuses on individual buildings rather than the value of the places around them.

"What is the point of arguing about a change of shop front on Princes Street when a lack of bigger thinking is allowing one of the finest promenading streets in Britain to slowly become a shambles of run-down shops, shabby street furniture and traffic muddle?"

He added: "Edinburgh needs better co-ordination and more input from a forum of urban designers and city-makers properly resourced, which could help the co-ordination of the largest docklands redevelopment in the UK and help to ensure that the hundreds of millions of pounds being invested in a new tram system are spent well.

"The tram has important and seriously unresolved planning and urban design issues, particularly along Princes Street, which need to be urgently and properly addressed."

Returning to the theme of "complacency", Sir Terry said there was a danger that the historic legacy bequeathed to the capital by its city fathers had given rise to a "dangerous complacency that has cloaked us in a wonderful, comfortable aura of fine places". He continued: "City-making is not static and all parties – private, public and voluntary sectors – have a duty to work together to preserve the best of the past in Edinburgh while proactively addressing the future economic vitality and liveability of the city."

While reluctant to be drawn into the controversy surrounding the 300 million Caltongate project, which intended building shops, offices and a hotel in the Canongate in the Royal Mile, Sir Terry has outlined his vision for many other parts of the city.

These include plans for redeveloping a stretch just less than seven miles long in the Leith docks and Newhaven area, which he dubs "Waterfront City" and which he says would be on a par with the creation of the New Town.

Sir Terry has also said that Leith Walk has the potential to become one of the greatest streets in Europe. But he has reserved some of his strongest criticism for Princes Street, saying that it has been damaged by the mistaken belief that it should be competing with out-of-town shopping complexes.

Instead, he proposed that the upper floor of the street's shops – many of which are used for storage – be converted to flats, restaurants and bars.

However, earlier this year the Architectural Heritage Society of Scotland accused Sir Terry of remaining "mute" while fierce controversy raged over major developments in the city such as Haymarket and Caltongate, which triggered an investigation by Unesco into the city's world heritage status.

The society also warned that inferior schemes were being approved by Edinburgh council in the rush to secure economic investment.