New Civic Centre at Muirhouse
PLANS HAVE now been lodged for the new multi million pound civic centre in North Edinburgh as part of The City of Edinburgh's regeneration programme for the area.
Former councillor and Lord Provost, Lesley Hinds, is Chair of North Edinburgh Arts (NEA) which is partnering with the council in delivering the scheme.
One side of Macmillan Square is a rather tired looking parade of shops which is about to be demolished. On the other side there are brand new homes being constructed with shops underneath. The library is on another side, but will be moved along with the NEA building into newly constructed spaces. The café will be brought to the front of the NEA building where it will have more prominence. A skills and learning centre will be introduced into the library to showcase potential jobs to school children and people in the area.
The square is named after community activist, Maureen Macmillan, a stalwart of the community marching through the area highlighting anti-racism and making a difference to the community she lived in.
In years to come the square will be the heart of the community with services and housing in the same place.
Lesley said: “Hopefully it is not going to be somewhere that just closes down at night becoming a dead area. That is how town centres work in my opinion. You have to have a mix of choices.”
North Edinburgh Arts is a newish building but it could have become land-locked with all the development going on around it. A community land transfer means that the community own the property which will be developed as soon as permission is granted. Work on the community land transfer has taken around three years so far.
Funding may come from The Scottish Government Regeneration Fund and the UK Government's Levelling up Fund.
The planning application lodged with The City of Edinburgh Council is yet to be approved, but it includes details of architect Richard Murphy's design for the fourth phase of the Pennywell Muirhouse Civic Centre. So far Lesley said that there have been no objections. The mixed use development will have a nursery, library and skills hub, arts centre, flats,