'RE-PROFILED' DRUMMOND PLAYGROUND PROMISES GROWTH

Submitted by Editor on Wed, 01/04/2015 - 18:29

Urban planning experts say there's a strong case for flattening the space outside Drummond Community High School. But they face an uphill task convincing some locals that their plans are well grounded.

The publicly accessible hard surface recreation area currently drops by as much as 28 feet between the bus stop on Mansfield Place and the bike sheds at the bottom of Bellevue Place.

'It's a hazard and always has been,' says Community Outreach Manager Iona Downes of Dutch-based civic forum consultancy Eerste van de Vierde UK (EvdV).

'Kids have been falling over on that dangerous incline for years. Our research suggests people are worried. How long before someone falls again and hurts themself really badly? It's time to change.'

EvdV's Scotland and NE of England Director is Roger Hill. He has four children aged 6–17. He says this gives him a particular insight into gradient hazard. 'It doesn't matter if they're tots or teenagers – put them together with asphalt and a slope and you're looking at a recipe for disaster,' he says.

The case for change

Since February 2014, Hill has facilitated discussions between a number of interested parties about the Drummond site and the adjacent 'Slough of Despond' beside the Mansfield-Traquair Centre.

All partners are now 'totally persuaded by the case for a re-profiled topos delivering ... an improved plateau' at roughly the pavement height of Mansfield Place. It would, Hill concedes, entail some reduction in window area at ground-floor level, but 'since most educational and professional inputs are delivered online these days, any suboptimal daylight outcomes would be vanishingly small'.

Raising the level of the school's front door would not be a major technical challenge or particularly costly in the grand scheme of things, he argues. And doing so would even improve access by removing the need for today's internal flight of steps.

Losing part of the Category A-listed former Catholic Apostolic Church's north elevation is more controversial, but Hill is sanguine about it. 'It's not exactly [architect] Robert Rowand Anderson's best work, and no-one ever looks at that bit anyway, unless they're smokers shivering in the shadows at a summer wedding reception.

'We want to bring everyone up together into the sunshine.'

Huge potential

Hill is convinced the scheme has huge potential for Broughton and Edinburgh more generally.

'With a flat surface at the front, you immediately free up all kinds of creative options for the school and local people,' he says.

'You could have all-weather football pitches on it, or a concert arena, or some combination of the two along with a stable platform for temporary events at Christmas and other times throughout the year without damaging sensitive amenity elsewhere. It could be a huge draw and deliver significant benefits to the Broughton economy. The only limit is our imagination.'

Not everybody likes the idea. 'Where will it all end?' asks Cockburn Terrace Residents Association chair Clive Tripps. 'What they're proposing is a colossal waste of time, effort and money.

'And where's the demand? Who have they spoken to? The school knows nothing about it. The Council deny everything. Nobody round here has been asked about whether they want a flat surface or not.'

Mona Tarpitt of Melgund Terrace agrees, adding 'What are they going to level it with? We're talking hundreds of thousands of cubic metres of something. What is it and where will it come from?'

Putting back into the community

Hill won't be drawn on that subject, but says there are a number of major local players with resources to spare who would jump at the chance to put something back into the community over the next few years.

Proposals are still at a very early and exploratory stage. But he sees 'only good things' emerging from future discussions.

'A lot of people are really cynical about urban thinkers like ErvD and our partner-envisioners,' he smiles ruefully. 'They think we're just a bunch of unprincipled, profit-driven, conninving b*st**ds with no taste.

'The truth is we're on the level, and this project could prove it.'

For related news, see Breaking news (1.4.14).

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Scott Richards Ahem...loss of windows? Hmmmm....I smell a rat.