Back to the future
Stunning mix of tradition and 21st century proves big hit, writes Paul Drury
PLANNING officers, it’s fair to say, have always yearned to share the same popularity as MPs, traffic wardens, journalists and bankers. They’re sometimes looked upon as the clipboard Hitlers who tell you to demolish that neat conservatory your mate knocked up for you at the weekend.
Or they give the nod to that ugly collection of huts they call a new housing estate just a few feet from the neon-lit hot tub in your garden.
But sometimes, their status soars beyond the superstar, when their attention to detail helps create something truly breathtaking.
Step forward the planning department of Scottish Borders Council. When a building company outlined its plans for a housing development in the pretty Royal Burgh of Peebles, they effectively imposed a ‘back to the future’ clause in their agreement to grant planning permission.
The proposed collection of onebedroom apartments, mews houses and detached and semi-detached villas at Hydro Gardens would be located right at the end of a series of Victorian properties, neighbouring the Peebles Hydro Hotel. So to get the green light, Queensberry Properties would have to use matching building materials for the prime site overlooking the gorgeous Tweed valley.
When completed, it is unlikely they would turn the head of any good burgher of Peebles from 1880 who happened to stroll past.
The council has its own jargon for explaining its approach – but you get the idea. A council spokesman said: ‘The site occupies an important and prominent position within Peebles Conservation Area, on the main entrance to the town from the east and with statutorily listed buildings in close proximity.
‘There is also a distinct character and building line formed by the existing houses in this location, being predominantly detached Victorian villas.
‘It was considered essential that the new development respected these factors in the design and siting of the detached houses along the frontage.’
The traditional approach to construction has struck a chord with local house-buyers.
When the first six houses were made available last weekend, four were reserved on the day. So have we, as a nation, dispensed with modernity and gone back to our 19th-century roots? Selling agent Savills says it has detected a return to traditional values at a number of developments it is marketing in Scotland.
Hydro Gardens in Peebles is one; another is a complex of seven period conversions and three newbuild apartments in South Oswald Road in The Grange, Edinburgh.
Shonagh Morgan of Savills said: ‘The feedback we received during the first weekend at Hydro Gardens was incredibly positive.’ She added: ‘Buyers love the late Victorian period style of the development: the detached houses to the front are essentially a continuation of the approach road to the spa and very much in keeping with existing large Victorian homes.’
Externally, the properties include local slate and stone and they have been rendered and finished to mirror the local architecture.
Inside, they are quintessentially 21st century. The best of both worlds, then.