Readers probably remember the Gaia Group – an ensemble of sustainable development-minded planners, architects and engineers who used to work out of the so-called Monastery in Hart Street Lane (pictured below).
In 2008, Professor Sandy Halliday, their Principal, was active in promoting research into the intriguing structure’s past, and actively opposed the Richard Murphy planning application which she felt would ruin its historic open aspect (Issues 164–5, 182; Breaking news, 26.1.11).
Scotland’s oldest ‘ecological design practice’ (established in 1984), Gaia handles projects around the UK, but has recently carried out energy-efficiency refurbishment at the LifeCare building on Cheyne Street in Stockbridge. In 1994 it worked with pupils at Broughton Primary School on the EcoCity project, a pioneering campaign to empower 10-12-year olds by encouraging them to conceptualise an ideal city. It returned in 2006, this time involving pupils from St Mary's Primary School. ‘We still get teachers from there greeting us in the street,’ says Halliday.
An association with young people has continued, with Acharacle Primary School opening earlier this month in Ardnamurchan. It is Scotland's first wholly sustinable school, with many unusual features including an eco-friendly timber construction, minimum electrical and mechanical engineering (to ensure low energy use), lots of natural light, and high insulation levels.
Pictured above is another Gaia-designed timber project – the Glentress Forest Visitor Centre and HQ in the Borders, which opened its doors to the public in June 2011.
Gaia moved out of Broughton last summer, seeking office space large enough to mix its growing interdisciplinary team on one floor. They rented property from City of Edinburgh Council before returning, in February 2012, to 12/1 Gayfield Street.
‘We always aimed to come back here,’ says Halliday.
‘We feel really at home in this part of Edinburgh. The central location and the fabulous range of facilities suit the company and the individual staff. We find that Broughton Street offers an ever varying range of off-site “canteen” facilities and a great place to wind down after an enlivening or exhausting day at the office.’
For more information visit www.gaiagroup.org
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