Plans afoot

There is a further consultation on the plans for New Town North in the former RBS building at the foot of Dundas Street. This runs until 12 January.

It will show the amendments which the developer has made to their plans which include:

• moving the office building further away from Fettes Row

• reducing massing on the top floor of the northern residential blocks to improve the view from Dundonald Street

• increasing the use of natural stone in the office building facing Fettes Row and the building on Eyre Place, along with some of the hard landscape paving on the main route through to the King George V Park

• design refinement to some areas of the elevations on Dundas Street and Eyre Place.

This development will create a mix of new homes, offices and public amenities on the 5.9 acre site. So far there have already been over 4,000 people visiting the website where the plans are on display. www.newtownquarter.co.uk

Development of Edinburgh's Literature House is moving apace. This will be sited at John Knox House and the Scottish Storytelling Centre on the Royal Mile. RIAS Consultancy ran a competition and Edinburgh UNESCO City of Literature Trust has appointed Stirling Prize winning architectural firm, Witherford Watson Mann, to lead the next phase of development. They will partner up with Groves Raines Architects Studios who have a record in conservation and reuse of historic buildings in Edinburgh, and Studio MB, an interpretive design agency.

Cllr Amy McNeese-Mechan, Culture and Communities Vice Convener, said: “We welcome the appointment of Witherford Watson Mann to lead the next step in this ambitious project to create a Literature House for Scotland

- a place to discover Edinburgh’s literary heritage and contemporary creativity, and learn more about our capital’s incredible storytellers, and writers. I look forward to seeing the project begin and the benefits it will bring for literature and a literary quarter in the city.”