Notorious Leith tower block to make way for 110 new homes

The city council has announced that Fort House, which has gained a reputation for violence and drug-taking, could be demolished as early as this September.

It is hoping to press ahead with the development of 110 affordable homes on the site if it can secure money from a new 10 million Scottish Government fund.

It is also planning to build another 57 homes on a long-standing gap site in Craigmillar if its funding bid is successful. Most of the tenants of Fort House have already been rehoused in other social housing and there are now fewer than ten tenants still living in the building.

The mix of flats and houses on the new site has not yet been determined - although the 110 homes is fewer than the 157 flats already within the building, mainly because the council wants to move away from such high density housing.

Councillor Paul Edie, the city's housing leader, said: "We have to meet the Scottish Housing Quality Standard by 2015 and, in certain parts of the city, it is not cost effective to get old stock up to standard, meaning you are better to clear a site and build new housing and that is what we are doing here.

"Some of these demolitions are bittersweet occasions. Sure, they are poor-quality stock but some whole families have been brought up in them so they can be tear-tinged occasions when they are taken down."

It is hoped that a contractor can now be put in place to allow Fort to be demolished within the next four months.

Mark Turley, director of the council's services for communities department, said: "Fort House consisted of 157 'hard to heat and hard to treat' properties. Any future development on the site will conform to modern building standards, which include a high level of environmental requirements."

The council will apply to the Scottish Government for grant aid from its 10m innovation fund to take forward development at both Fort House and Greendykes.

Discussions are taking place with Port of Leith Housing Association to jointly develop the Fort House site, which is expected to be made up of 70 per cent mid-market rent and 30 per cent social rent.

And the 0.7-acre Greendykes site is expected to be developed into 46 flats and 11 townhouses through council-owned development firm Parc.

Between the two sites, there will be 45 council houses and they will contribute to the council's attempts to address the severe shortage of affordable housing in the city.

In 2010/11, 392 affordable homes were approved through planning and 525 were completed.Cllr Edie added: "We are in really difficult times economically but the council is pulling out all stops to get investment from the Scottish Government and are doing everything we can to keep the housing market going in this city."