Hello to my SSC friends north of the border. :wave: I know the Highlands aren't exactly Glasgow but where else could I post this? :sly:

I'm planning my 5th holiday to the Highlands in the summer after not having been since 2005. To be honest, I love it that much that I'd be happy revisiting a lot of the places I've been to in the past but I was wondering what some of your favourite places are. I think my fave place is Torridon for its beauty, plus you get less tourists there than the Fort William and Ullapool areas. But this time, seeing as I'll be going with at least one other person who has never been before I thought we should stay around Fort William so that most of the interesting areas are accessible.

So what do you think are the highlights of the Highlands? Pleasant villages, mountains, lochs, waterfalls or even roads - I'd be interested to know. ;)

I hope the weather will be good for you!:)

Oban is pretty popular, although I haven't been able to visit it yet myself. I really should try and do more hillwalking, its been too long. My absolute favorite mountain would have to be the Buachaille Etive Mor, its just sheer stunning.:happy:

And remember to pop by your favourite Scottish city;)

The Great Glen is my favourite.

A82 through Glencoe up to that shithole Fort William then branch off to Skye. Quality. Then I'd blast up the Great North Road right up the the top, past Cape Wrath then head down to Inverness, down the Great Glen then cut across to the A9 and stot about the Cairgorms and Deeside for a while. Inverlochy Castle is nice but pricey to stay at.

:o

Tut, tut @ Boards. Not the kind of language i'd expect from a young lady.

Oban is a nice place to visit, and if you are driving via Glasgow/Loch Lomond, try a wee detour to Inverary and sample some Loch Fyne oysters en route.

One word: Plockton*

photos photosecosse (http://www.flickr.com/photos/babsphotosecosse/) flickr

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2307/2419429744_8d6a770d1d_b.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2141/2204007118_2ed1f7b7e0_b.jpg

photo MK Xena (http://www.flickr.com/photos/mk_xena/) flickr

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3213/3007972090_feec5cc317_b.jpg

* I am biased on this.

^^

I visited your villagelet back in 2003 and walked onto that tidal island in the second photo. :happy: It was around the time somebody in Plockton got savaged by a Highland cow. :(


I hope the weather will be good for you!:)

When I last visited Scotland we were sat up on Aonach Mor in the blazing sunshine and I got burnt! But when we went to the Glenfinnan Monument it thrashed it down. :|


And remember to pop by your favourite Scottish city;)

I've never actually stopped in Glasgow but it's always great viewing it from high up on the M8. I've made it clear in other threads on SSC that Glasgow is my favourite city in terms of how dense and massive it looks as you travel though and then over the Erskine Bridge looking back.


A82 through Glencoe up to that shithole Fort William then branch off to Skye. Quality. Then I'd blast up the Great North Road right up the the top, past Cape Wrath then head down to Inverness, down the Great Glen then cut across to the A9 and stot about the Cairgorms and Deeside for a while. Inverlochy Castle is nice but pricey to stay at.

I REALLY want to go to Cape Wrath but it's just too far! The furthest north I've been is Achmelvich, somewhere beyind Ullapool. I think Skye will be on the agenda for this next visit. :yes:


:o
Oban is a nice place to visit, and if you are driving via Glasgow/Loch Lomond, try a wee detour to Inverary and sample some Loch Fyne oysters en route.

I've been to Oban twice and I've never been all that keen on it. I'm not quite sure why. Maybe it's after all those miles of empty road and seeing nobody you suddenly come to a built-up area of ordinary houses and leisure centres. :lol:

^^

I visited your villagelet back in 2003 and walked onto that tidal island in the second photo. :happy: It was around the time somebody in Plockton got savaged by a Highland cow. :(

To protect the good reputation of Plockton, I should point out that a) contrary to media reports, it didn't happen in Plockton (he was merely staying here) and b) he actually died of a heart attack. Still obviously very sad for his family.

I've never actually stopped in Glasgow but it's always great viewing it from high up on the M8. I've made it clear in other threads on SSC that Glasgow is my favourite city in terms of how dense and massive it looks as you travel though and then over the Erskine Bridge looking back.



You are just trying to flatter us Butterfield;) But then I guess a Tower Block lover such as yourself wouldn't feel out of place here:yes:

To protect the good reputation of Plockton, I should point out that a) contrary to media reports, it didn't happen in Plockton (he was merely staying here) and b) he actually died of a heart attack. Still obviously very sad for his family.

Oops, my bad. :doh: Either they reported the incident wrongly down here or five years have allowed me to forget what really happened. I still wouldn't want to come face to face with one of those hairy beasties - much as I love them. :D


You are just trying to flatter us Butterfield;) But then I guess a Tower Block lover such as yourself wouldn't feel out of place here:yes:

Mmmm hmmm. I used to spend a lot of time on the Glasgow Tower Blocks thread as I loved the contast between the hundreds of (sometimes grim) blocks with the hills and distant mountains in the background. :happy: No other city quite like it.

Hi Butterfield.

I'd like to put in a good word for Perthshire. Kenmore, Aberfeldy, Loch Tay, Dunkeld and the like. Its not really 'Highlands' in that its not wild and remote but maybe has a feel a bit like a quieter version of the Lake District. There are loads of beautiful lochs, interesting wee towns, multitudes of climbable hills and there's sufficient population to support activities such as watersports, golf, falconry, mountain biking etc but sufficiently few people that it all feels very rural. After Torridon (where you went last year), Perthshire is my favourite bit of mainland Scotland (Arran, by lightyears, is my favourite place on the planet bar none).

Hi Butterfield.

I'd like to put in a good word for Perthshire. Kenmore, Aberfeldy, Loch Tay, Dunkeld and the like. Its not really 'Highlands' in that its not wild and remote but maybe has a feel a bit like a quieter version of the Lake District. There are loads of beautiful lochs, interesting wee towns, multitudes of climbable hills and there's sufficient population to support activities such as watersports, golf, falconry, mountain biking etc but sufficiently few people that it all feels very rural. After Torridon (where you went last year), Perthshire is my favourite bit of mainland Scotland (Arran, by lightyears, is my favourite place on the planet bar none).

I have to agree - I think Dunkeld is my favourite place in Scotland - at least until I find a new favourite place. Interestingly the Birnham Hotel has closed and is up for sale - could we chip on and buy it together?

http://www.birnamhousehotel.co.uk/

I've just looked up those places you mentioned legs and they look lovely. If they were closer to where I live I'd be there like a flash but I think what really makes me want to drive the 400/500 miles is the mountains and coastline of the Highlands as we have nothing quite like that round here. ;)

If you really want to do a bit of travelling head up to Sutherland via the Cairngorms and Loch Ness and go see Dunrobin Castle and everything inbetween
http://www.castles.org/Chatelaine/dunrobin2.jpghttp://www.rampantscotland.com/castles/graphics2/dunrobin_scotavia1a.jpg

Wow... Dunrobin doesn't half have a touch of Schloss Neuschwanstein.

I agree about Arran being lovely, and it's half relevant to this thread, as the Highland Boundary Fault runs right down the middle of it. This is what makes the topograph of the island a sort of 'Scotland in miniature'. I went camping there a couple years ago with my brother, at the Glen Rosa campsite. We did a very enjoyable walk up Goatfell, and then rather too long an evening in the pubs at Brodick (which actually aren't quite as good as they should be... couldn't even find one that had the lovely Arran Ale on tap).

spectacular aint it? :) predates neuschwanstein by a fair few decades though!

The last time i climbed ben lomond which was a few decades ago will always remain in my mind untill the day i die, climb it if you are climber its an experience you'll never forget.

Image is from google.

http://www.doc.govt.nz/upload/13462/Ben%20Lomond%20018.jpg

Are you able to see Glasgow from the top of Ben Lomond? If I remember rightly you can see Ben Lomond from parts of Glasgow.

I can't actually remember Butterfield. I think I was too busy looking for my hometown (further down the Clyde), but I guess it would be possible on a clear enough day.

I guess most of you have been there, but go to Luss on the banks of Loch Lomond! Saw one of the most breathtaking sunsets over there and it's a sweet little village as well.
some photos from that day..

http://photos-d.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-sf2p/v241/21/79/560677135/n560677135_781803_7076.jpg

http://photos-e.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-sf2p/v241/21/79/560677135/n560677135_781804_7450.jpg

http://photos-a.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-sf2p/v241/21/79/560677135/n560677135_781800_6176.jpg

Nice photos. :) I've been to Luss each time I've been on the way to the Fort William area as it's a nice place to stop off at after Glasgow. It's nice for a stroll around the village and down to the shore of Loch Lomond - although there were clouds of midges on the beach last time I went! I always think of Luss as the gateway to the Highlands as it's where you first start to see mountains, even if they aren't quite officially in the Highlands. ;)

Speaking of Luss, stv had their top 30 best loved shows countdown yesterday. There were protests in George Square (http://video.stv.tv/bc/programmes-stv-top-30-best-loved-shows-20090103-part-6) when they canceled High Road!

Dubai ruler gets go-ahead for lavish Highlands lodge
Councillors reject planners' advice that proposed 16-bedroom building overlooking Loch Duich would be an eyesore

The billionaire ruler of Dubai has been given permission to build a new 16-bedroom holiday home in the Highlands after councillors rejected official advice that the proposed design was an eyesore best suited to a business park... continues here (http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/jan/15/highlands-dubai-sheikh-maktoum)

Seems again its politics before planning.

Huh, first I'd heard of this. Anyone know who the architects are?

Some friends of mine have worked for him, doing cleaning and housework etc. They get paid a fortune for it. To the extent that their boyfriends jokingly question them about what it is that they do...

It's by the Johns Practice (http://www.johnspractice.co.uk/index.cfm) in Newmarket. You can read the planner's report and view the drawings here (http://www.highland.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/B2E0A27D-B106-47B3-A08A-5E5C68075AE5/0/Item67PLR00709.pdf).

Wow. I just skim read the report. The planners couldn't really have more damning, could they? And yet, the local councilors roll over.

I'll probably upset Gweilo with this comment, but every time I see something done by the New Urbanists, I always think that I'd be able to take them so much more seriously if they stopped denying the presence of the last 100 years. From Architecture Scotland (http://www.architecturescotland.co.uk/news/1176/Tornagrain_born_again.html):

Tornagrain born again
16 Jan 2009

http://www.architecturescotland.co.uk/images/news/newspic_424.jpg

A planned new town at Tornagrain near Inverness could welcome some 5,000 new homes, five schools and parkland to cater for the expansion of Europe's fastest growing city.

Located on the A96 corridor close to the airport between Inverness and Nairn the town enjoys excellent transport links.

The vision is being financed by Moray Estates with planning consultant Andres Duany taking the design helm.

Duany advocates a return to traditional town planning, moving away from sprawling suburbs with few facilities. As such the town will be built to a high density with a walkable environment and plentiful shops and services.

Highland Council are in receipt of a planning application for the site which, if approved, could see construction commence in 2013.

Tornagrain Website (http://www.tornagrain-newtown.co.uk/).

And, argh, I'm actually kind of angry about this. It is possible to design in such a way that takes account of the local vernacular and traditions in buildings, without slavishly pretending to emulate it. Here's a project in Plockton for Skye & Lochalsh Housing Association—why is it that Housing Associations are doing the best building in Scotland over the last few years?—due to start construction any day now:

http://www.ruraldesign.co.uk/images/22_burnside.jpg

And another couple of buildings in the same village, by the same architect, for the same client. Completed last year:

http://*************************/scotland/jpgs/plockton_houses_ruraldesign200508_1.jpg

http://*************************/scotland/jpgs/plockton_houses_ruraldesign200508_3.jpg

And sadly delayed until 2010, but if the Highland Housing Fair/Scottish Housing Expo (http://www.scotlandshousingexpo.com/) ever goes ahead, I'll be very happy:

http://www.scotlandshousingexpo.com/images/pageheaders/2.jpg

http://www.scotlandshousingexpo.com/images/pageheaders/18.jpg

http://www.scotlandshousingexpo.com/images/pageheaders/26.jpg

...but no, we have to put up with the Duany Plater-Zyberk shite.

astragal a-go-go!
Cadell2 seem to manage rural settlment plans as well without resorting to new urbanist aesthetic (I know, I know there is no set aesthetic, it's just a coincidence that its always pastche). To be fair, the timber clad crescent with a copper roof proposed could be interesting.....

Groan.... ok I know I'm rising to the bait but I jeez I just can't help myself.

We've spoken about this before maccoinnich and you know my opinion on the matter i.e. that collectively the New Urbanists really need to do some decent PR in the UK.

Coming over here and preaching about the 64 things UK architects gets wrong in building new developments ain't gonna help cause it looks so holier than thou and gets peoples backs up.

New Urbanism is, officially, style neutral however it is a broad church and one that is still debating the issue of style with some quite vocal pro and anti camps. However just as many, like me, see style as a total red herring that architects get themselves totally wrapped up in when it is the urbanism that should come first.

The New Urbanists problem is that all one ever sees of it in the UK is either images from the Truman show, half of which was a Hollywood stage set, selective highlights of Seaside that helpfully miss out any building that isn't vaguely classical, and Kentlands in Maryland. Consequently UK architects get a very stereotyped view of it from the architectural media. But... the style of a New Urbanist community can and does vary. It's just seems to be easier for Londoncentric journalists to keep lazily peddling these stereotypes as presumably it suits their agenda.

If they bothered to look a bit further they might realise that the Truman Show image is not the whole story.

For instance the design code for Kentlands came about through discussions with a largely conservative community in the surrounding hinterland hence the style or language they opted for there. That is their choice.

However if one were to go west (pardon pun) one would find that tastes change and people can be, and are, more adventerous.

Check out this new town near Denver called Prospect which was masterplanned by Duany Plater-Zyberk and had a more contemporary design code because that's what the locals wanted.

http://www.simmonsbuntin.com/images/gallery/2008/nu/prospect/

OK the individual buildings can be hit and miss but is it not significantly better than your typical developer led suburban development here with minimal architect involvement? Additionally many of the lots and houses within this new town were specifically designed for their owners and the comissions went to a pool of young architects. What a better way to get a break and a leg up for up and coming talent? Is anyone aware of any UK developers who would be quite so adventerous? Who gets the better deal at the end of the day? Our approach or this? So why is it that the architectural press in the UK can't report on stuff like this?

And...Duany Plater-Zyberk don't design buildings. They do masterplans not architecture!!!

Finally having had the pleasure of working with both Caddell2 and DPZ I'd chose DPZ any day as they are a lot more fun.

Honestly, I wasn't trying to you annoy with this.

But, I'm not optimistic about Tornagrain.

Yes, any objective reading of the New Urbanist Manifesto would say that at the most all does is maybe nudge towards the vernacular. And yeah, of course even Seaside has the building by Steven Holl (but then Leon Krier accuses that building of ruining the whole town.) And yes, the Colorodo scheme you link is better than the average new housing in Scotland, and some of it actually looks pretty sophisticated.

But back to Tornagrain specifically - if they are going to be style neutral there, why does the published imagery so specifically evoke the Poundbury? Now, the Highland Housing Fair may well wind up being a bit of an architectural zoo, but then I guess there's no way to avoid that, when the brief calls on everyone to be innovative. If Tornagrain winds up being a town that at least avoids the urban planning mistakes of the 21st century, while including buildings by architects as intesting as, say, NORD, Graeme Massie, Rural Design, Brennan and Wilson, StudioKAP... all while achieving a modicum of visual continuity... I won't say a bad thing against it again.

But what reason have I to be optimistic?

However just as many, like me, see style as a total red herring that architects get themselves totally wrapped up in when it is the urbanism that should come first.

And just to take this way off topic, but for what it's worth, I don't disagree. I'm vaguely considering moving to Portland, Oregon, and I've spent far too much time recently reading and reminiscing about it online. It's a wonderful city, and that's in large part due to the quality of the planning. They have an expanding regional light rail system, and dense bus network. The blocks are a short 200'x200'. New developments in downtown, or large apartment blocks anywhere, are required to have ground floor retail. Much of the city is specifically zoned to encourage mixed use development. Their farmer's market runs three days a week at different locations. They haven't had an 'iconic' building built since Michael Graves' Portland Public Service Building... and they're all the better for it.

Sorry folks changed my mind I'll PM this instead.

Gweilo, I agree that pastiche isn't necessarily pejorative but the illustrations of Tornagrain do not appear to be examples of well executed pastiche.

http://www.tornagrain-newtown.co.uk/Illustrations.asp
This allowed participants to visualise not just architecture, as this was down to the choice of the illustrator, but more importantly scale, relationship of buildings to the street and to each other.

How would you know Belle? The illustrations are merely one perspective artist's idea of what a traditional Scottish town looks like. It doesn't mean that it will look like that. How can anyone judge whether what the illustrations represent is a well executed pastiche or not. It still has to be translated into built form, will be done so by numerous hands, and there are still 35 years left in which to do that. Though I imagine it will be traditional in the sense that you will have vertical mixed use in the town centre, buildings addressing and enclosing streets etc, who knows what Tornagrain will ultimately look like?

For instance DPZ's images of the Prospect new town near Denver had a very neo-traditional aesthetic when the masterplan was drawn up back in 1994 whereas the end results more than a decade later (the link to which I posted below) have a more contemporary design ambition and flavour.

And anyway of course labelling a building as pastiche nowadays is pejorative! The majority of architects intend it as a put down! It's just that, at the risk of turning into Leon Krier when I actually I find this whole thing thoroughly bemusing, why is it no one bands about the word pastiche with regards to the likes of Malcolm Fraser's Princess Gate development? Rather, this is viewed as a 'homage' to heroes of Scottish modernism Morris and Steadman.

Why is a scheme that echoes the language of Princess Margaret Rose Hospital and also refers to the Sillitto House praiseworthy whereas someone seeking to adopt a parallel approach with a vernacular or classical building either laughed at or has opprobrium and scorn heaped on them? Is Princess Gate not a clever pastiche (or is it? Might it not be a coarser version?)?!

If Malcolm is deliberately imitating Morris and Steadman what does that mean for his artistic integrity and credibility? After all is he not guilty of copying and thereby producing something that lacks originality? How is the poor viewer not to know they are in fact looking at a reproduction of 1960's modernism? Is that not a bit of a faux pas when viewed in Modernist terms? Borrowing from history is borrowing from history after all whether it be 40 or 400 years ago. Therefore is Princess Gate's receipt of a variety of architectural awards either a case of double standards or a celebration of Malcolm's sheer good taste?!

;)

woho! take that beyatch! :lol:

(sorry for lowering the tone of debate!)

Malcolm regularly speaks of reclaiming the word pastiche from its current negative status so I don't imagine he would have a problem with his work being described as a pastiche of the architects he admires (although he's not as successful in my opnion).

It would seem that my criticisms should be levelled at the landowner for permitting the project to be promoted by an ill informed illustrator. I apologise if my criticism of the illustration distressed you ;)

Sheesh, you poke a New Urbanist....

And just to take this way off topic, but for what it's worth, I don't disagree. I'm vaguely considering moving to Portland, Oregon, and I've spent far too much time recently reading and reminiscing about it online. It's a wonderful city, and that's in large part due to the quality of the planning. They have an expanding regional light rail system, and dense bus network. The blocks are a short 200'x200'. New developments in downtown, or large apartment blocks anywhere, are required to have ground floor retail. Much of the city is specifically zoned to encourage mixed use development. Their farmer's market runs three days a week at different locations. They haven't had an 'iconic' building built since Michael Graves' Portland Public Service Building... and they're all the better for it.

I was thinking of you yesterday dude. I have a cousin just back from a backpacking tour of the USA and Canada and he mentioned that he had visited Portland along with every major city on the west coast. In light of your descriptions, I was awaiting a tale of a visit to some sort of urban nirvana, instead all I got was; 'Portland? It's a total shitheap!' :lol: I couldn't believe it -first time I've ever heard a negative description of the place. Nevertheless, I still intend to visit when on in-law duty later this year and I will make up my own mind then.

A total shitheap? Whaaaat?

Granted, it doesn't have much in the way of tourist attractions. There's no equivalent to Pier 39, Alcatraz or the Cable Cars (San Francisco), or the Space Needle and Pike Place Market (Seattle)... so it's difficult for me to imagine what somebody who visits it for a just a day or two might think... but a shitheap? No way.

Ok I may regret this but in the interests of debate and the spirit of open mindness (Belle I wouldn't entirely classify myself as a new urbanist but I do know quite a few of the major figures in the movement, I am sympathetic and try to keep an open mind though given all that I suppose I have drunk the kool aid and should just admit it and be damned!) thought some of you might be interested in Andres Duany's acceptance speech for both himself and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk winning the Driehaus Prize, the world's largest architectural prize, last year. Most people won't have heard of this prize but it's worth a cool US $200,000. The reason people won't have heard of it is that to qualify you have to meet the following criteria:

• Should be an architect with a distinguished career
• Should be accomplished in the disciplines of Traditional or Classical Architecture and/or Urban Design
• Should have designed structures that create positive, long-lasting societal contributions (culturally, environmentally, artistically)
• Should be an advocate of the traditional city and the public realm
• Should emphasize sustainability and innovation

Not exactly roll up roll up all ye starchitects then.

Anyway Andres Dunay's remarks are rather interesting and there are some juicy bon mots to be had such as did you know that Peter Eisenman and Leon Krier are friends? Who'd have thought it?! But obvious when you think about it as they must have crossed swords on the architectural tutoring and debating circuit many times so couldn't not have gained a respect for each other. There's also a faustian pact in there with regards to New Urbanism and the taste of the American middle class which I suspect you might be interested in. And then Duany lays down the gauntlet to his traditionalist colleagues… I wonder how well that went down.

So enjoy!

Driehaus Prize Remarks
Andres Duany

Today we have spoken about Richard Driehaus, of his generosity and perspicacity. But something I've come to see in him is perhaps of greater importance: his enthusiasm. The energy of enthusiasm is important to move things forward. Most of us here are enthusiasts about this great thing, traditional architecture and urbanism. And we are something else that we don’t often realize: most of us here are brave, too, as by practicing traditional architecture and urbanism we enter the ring with champions like Lutyens and Palladio.

Modernists do not. They write their own rules of the game, so they always win. Peter Eisenman, for example, is invariably the champion of Eisenman-esque architecture. There are no other contenders. This is clever, but in the end it is not interesting because there is no tension. Eisenman's achievements are noticed less every time. He does ever bigger buildings that are ever more swiftly forgotten. They are victories over himself, about which only he can care.

But what if Peter were to design a classical building? What if he were to attempt something as dangerous as to enter that ring with the real champions? There would be a renewed interest in him as an architect, to say the least. And I’m sure it would be a great performance -- Leon Krier, who is his friend, says Eisenman knows Palladio very well.

Designing a classical building is virtually the only thing that remains for those avant-garde architects. They have already explored every shape that could be hyper cantilevered, crashed, randomized, slashed, perforated, photo-tuned, upturned, bent, dematerialized, dissed, or otherwise transgressed. It is by now the expected. There remains only their engaging in the ultimate test, to compete with the likes of Lutyens and Palladio, under common rules.

But even that would be merely entertainment. For the challenge that is upon us, traditional architecture and urbanism must be more useful than amusing.

It has been Lizz’s and my most serious contribution, I think, not so much to recover traditional architecture and urbanism, nor to evolve it, nor even to practice it as widely as we have, but to empower it again through collective endeavor. This achievement requires that credit be widely distributed, because our work is also the work of others; so there will be many names mentioned in this presentation.

But for not having met Robert Davis, some of these others may well be up here today receiving this award. Among them are Robert Orr, John Massengale, Victor Dover, Dhiru Thadani, Neal Payton, John Torti, Pat Pinnell, Peter Calthorpe, Liz Moule, Stef Polyzoides, Peter Katz, Ray Gindroz, Dan Solomon. It is very unusual, in this field of authorial individualism, to have such people working towards the same end.

And we should not make a distinction between designers and developers, as both are creators. Buff and Johnny Chace, Galen Weston, Patrick Bienvenue, Robert and Daryl Davis, David Tomes, Greg and Susan Whittaker, Joe Alfandre, Steve Maun, Craig Robins, and scores of others are as knowledgeable about design as we the designers must be about development.

And then the teachers. In the schools, for a short window either side of 1970, there was a genuine open-mindedness about architecture. It was the time when Michael Graves, Alan Greenberg and, above all, Vincent Scully, taught us to love and appreciate all good buildings. They didn't turn us into style bigots. I'm most grateful for that. Because of them I visit the world with much more enjoyment.

With the partners at DPZ, and the professors at the University of Miami, Leon Krier holds a special place as a teacher. In addition to urbanism, he taught us how to be polemical. Those razor-sharp cartoons clarified timeless concepts at the explicit expense of the ridiculous practices of modernism. Over the years his drawings, projects, and writings have systematically engaged everything from the region to the detail of buildings. They now constitute a complete body of knowledge. We had only to adjust them to American conditions, and to develop the massive delivery systems required by the present situation.

Receiving the Driehaus Prize with the help of so many, it is right that we should share it. It would be incorrect to take the stipend for ourselves. So Lizz and I have arranged its donation to a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the furtherance of this endeavor that we share. The publication of Leon Krier's complete works will be its first achievement.

As you may know, it is not my practice to be as nice to everyone as I have been today. But on this beautiful occasion I will continue to do so by thanking our opponents. We are grateful to them because they have discerned the threat that our ideas pose to theirs. By relentlessly attacking the New Urbanism from their illustrious institutions, they have provided us with visible platforms. I must thank them also for maintaining such a high level of strategic ineptitude. How easy they have made it for us outside their circumscribed world. We thank them for how much they concede by sticking to irrelevant ideologies; by their fascination with the transient, the unworkable, the uncomfortable, the unreproducible, the unpopular, the expensive, the unbuildable, the useless, the repellent, and the unintelligible. That has been a gift greater even than this prize.

This gift has not been without sacrifice on their part. Modernist architects of great talent have willingly performed for the regard of only about six critics. And they do so knowing that these critics have a history of raising them up and then discarding them once they are bored. We have seen in our own time the marginalization of truly brilliant architects -- Paul Rudolph, Charles Moore, Robert Venturi, James Stirling, Bob Stern, Michael Graves, Peter Eisenman -- all once raised to the heavens and then dismissed, even when at the peak of their powers. As with Paul Rudolph, these architects will outlive the critics, but it is a terrible waste of resources.

We have taken a different course. We seek judgment, not at the mercy of those six, but in the regard of America at large. When people ask, "Aren't you worried about what Orousoff wrote?" I tell them, "But I don't know anyone who matters to our practice who knows him." What he writes has no effect. For the time it would take me to write a publishable response, I could edit a code that would affect perhaps hundreds of buildings. Besides, if we were to respond, it would only empower those critics by granting them a visibility in our world that they do not have.

What then is this world of the New Urbanism, and why is traditional architecture important to it? There are many reasons, but the primary one is that because traditional architecture is a common language of the American middle class, it is the symbolic discourse through which we implement the social and ecological ideals of the Charter of the New Urbanism. The enormous American middle class is the group that really matters, and yet they are the only consumers of architecture not addressed in the modernist schools or the professional periodicals.

Beyond the snobbism, there is a reason for that. To the middle, class unlike the poor, the market gives choice -- and given choice they choose traditionalism. Their ability to evade the modernist discourse (which the poor cannot do) confuses architects. But it does not confuse us. It is through the steady reputation of traditional architecture that we enlist the middle class to our cause, which is to have them inhabit again a walkable, compact, and diverse urbanism.

You might ask: but isn't the American middle class culturally trivial? The response to that depends on your conception of culture; it can be either the late modernist one of cultural activity as critique, or ours (coinciding with the early modernist concept) of cultural activity as action. Theirs attempts to express the condition of the world, while ours attempts to reform the condition of the world.

You see, the lifestyle of the American middle class is the root cause of the environmental problems of the world today. It is that simple. It is the way we supersize our habitat, the way we consume as entertainment, the way we drive around to do ordinary things, the way we so freely allocate land to our use, and even how we choose to eat, that is the cause of climate change. It is this lifestyle, and now its export version (pushed by architectural consultant-criminals) to Asia, India, the Persian Gulf, South America and Eastern Europe, which is responsible for the environmental problems we will all suffer. It was traditional architecture that both politically and technically enabled New Urbanists’ extraordinarily early commitment to environmentalism.

If that is what traditional architecture has done for us, the urbanists, what can it do for itself?

The current renaissance of traditional architecture must be seen not as a single event, but as a process. A first generation restored the old and sturdy citadel which is the discipline of the classical language. The next generation now entering the peak of their practice can continue to unfurl beautiful banners from the ramparts, in the hopes that virtue will be recognized by all … or it can sally to take territory by force. There is so much territory forlorn by American design. I do not allude to the bits held by modernism, but to the vast areas held by mindless production builders, by the green gadgets that pass for environmental buildings, by the nauseating plan books, by the junk-space of civic buildings, by the junk-products at Home Depot, by the hapless mobile home industry. These are blights on our physical and cultural landscape that can only be redeemed by traditional designers. This is risky, I know. We could jeopardize the impeccable reputation of the citadel … but we could also show the space that traditional architecture can occupy as nothing else can.

In this quest, we must be as courageous as the generation of pioneers. Bob Stern, Alan Greenberg, Tom Beeby, Rob Krier, and Thomas Gordon Smith all risked their good name by entering the trackless wilderness of post-modernism. But see what they gained on the other side: the architecture that we now so confidently reward with the Driehaus Prize.

The best proof that architecture has been well and truly recovered through that heroic thirty-year campaign is that it can be dependably taught. Classicists today can be as good as their masters even while still young. I am aware that the rigor of the classical canon enables this instruction. I am also aware that the discipline of the Orders was the compass that guided architecture out of postmodernism. But in teaching the Orders today we should take care that students not become overly dependent of bookish authority. They must not learn the fear of being caught "incorrect." The measure should be what Lizz calls "plain old good building." We are, after all, building primarily for common folk and not patrons.

Will the current generation bore deeper still into refinement and elitism, or will it spread classical architecture out to a broad democratic, indeed populist, future? Will it continue republishing ever more esoteric treatises, or will it write new ones conceived to serve, not the 16th or even the 20th Century, but this future which is upon us?

To explain what I mean, please permit me a rudimentary example. How can there be a viable canon of architecture that is incapable of producing an opening wider than it is high -- by that I mean a horizontally proportioned intercolumniation? We cannot be effective today if we cannot even deal with a simple barn opening or porte-cochere. And that is just one problem. We confront the conclusion that the classical canon must be expanded if it is to engage the 21st Century.

I would propose a new ethos -- one no longer dedicated to the recovery of the classical canon of Vitruvius, Palladio and Vignola, but to expanding that canon. Taking care that this process does not devolve into neo-postmodernist dissipation, it must be based on the authority of masters and masterpieces. First we must transcend the authority of the historic treatises, to rescue that which was discarded in the reductive process of writing them. Then we must recover to our side those transitional 2Oth Century architects that historians have assigned to the modernist camp -- where they reside as the foundation of their authority -- when they are, in fact, a late, great flowering of classicism.

Take Frank Lloyd Wright. You could see the Prairie School as the beginning of the fall, but you could also see it as the last of the Greek revivals. Wright was among those who, instead of the Parthenon and all of its proprieties, took the Erechtheion and all of its freedoms, to extract a contemporary architecture. If the Erechtheion -- its dynamic massing and multiple columniations, its agile engagement with topography, its free repertoire of moldings, its localized symmetries and rotated approaches, its complex, multi-leveled interior, its contradictions and unresolved tension -- is classical, then the young Wright is certainly among the great masters of classicism. Wright must be on our side if we are to take the territory defined by the 21st century.

Another master of the canon would be Jose Plecnik. Plecnik, who knowing the classical language perfectly, took it and translated it to the folk vernacular. Like Shakespeare, who found literature in a moribund Latin and bequeathed it in a native English with vitality to spare, Plecnik shows us the workings of what my brother Douglas calls “the vernacular mind.” Not “the vernacular,” which is a style, but the vernacular mind, which is the way of folk art. It is the ability to compose from memory and circumstance, with found materials, of working sequentially through anything and everything, with craft but not perfection. The robustness which Plecnik brought to architecture is essential, I think, to the withering that the 21st century will impose upon us. Leon knows it. Look at his American buildings at Miami, and at Seaside and Windsor. What lessons do they hold? Not one of them is correct in the canonical sense, and yet they are canonical buildings. And so I would also bring into the canon the work of Leon Krier.

An expanded canon would include newly drawn plates alongside Vignola's: the Orders of masters like Friedrich Gilly, John Soane, Alexander Thompson, Tony Garnier, Auguste Perret, Josef Hoffman, Gunnar Asplund, Adolf Loos, Jose Plecnik, Marcello Piacentini, Michael Graves, Rob Krier, Robert Stern, Scott Merrill -- and a score of others. This treatise would claim an enormous amount of new territory for classicism.

A portion of this Driehaus Award will be applied to such a treatise.

We are almost there. We have only to climb one last Everest.

Okay, he mentioned Venturi, not me. I've been to two of Venturi Scott Brown's buildings—the Seattle Art Museum and the Sainsbury Wing of the National Gallery—and they do not even approach the greatness of their idol, John Soane. Now, I'll fully admit I don't know much of the contemporary canon that he's talking about, but which of these architects are producing classical buildings as good as Palladio?

That's because Venturi (and by association Denise Scott Brown) is a brilliant theoretician first and an architect second. He thinks too much before he makes a move and it shows. Too many of those buildings are like stage sets but Venturi loves that because he's coming out of pop art. Everything in the Sainsbury wing feels forced. It doesn't come naturally because he keeps labouring the point about how clever he is.

And your question is so unfair! One could turn it around and ask which contemporary architect is producing buildings as good as Le Corbusier?

From what I've seen Bob Stern, Alan Greenberg, Tom Beeby, Rob Krier, and Thomas Gordon Smith do produce good work but to pin up for comparison with Palladio just would not be fair. Some of it is stiff, some of it is way too academic, some of it needs to break some rules. Some it down right bores me. And some of it isn't to my taste at all. But if these guys were producing works as good as Palladio you'd know all about it because it would be all over the media.

From having an awareness of their work I think it would be fairer to say they are on a learning curve. But the point is that having been in the anything goes wilderness of post modernism these guys got out the other side by rediscovering that there were rules. The consequence of that is that they make good teachers and have open minds. Look at what Stern has done with Yale for example.

But to at least try and answer your question I would say that for starters, and this is deeply unfashionable of me, Leon Krier can be good when he builds which is very rarely. Not, I have to admit, that I've been in a Leon Krier building. But he does his own thing within the classical language, knows when and where to bend and break the rules, and those occasional pieces can be good. They are most decidedly from his hand and not in anyway derivative or a pastiche. In some ways it’s a great shame he hasn't built more at least to demonstrate his talent.

The other person I'd list as being good is Scott Merrill who doesn't have a particularly high profile but just gets on with it.

http://www.merrillpastor.com/

For instance his Seaside Chapel from 2001 is not particularly well known but is actually rather good.

http://www.merrillpastor.com/Seaside_Chapel/Seaside_Chapel_Page_01.htm

It's a deceptively simple structure that at first glance appears uncomplicated but is actually quite rich and admirably controlled. There's a touch of late Joseph Maria Olbrich and Heinrich Tessenow about it and I rather like that. Obviously neither of them are particularly fashionable either so I realise that this is a bit of an acquired taste! But I have always been pretty catholic in that regard anyway.

And your question is so unfair! One could turn it around and ask which contemporary architect is producing buildings as good as Le Corbusier?

Ooh, snap. Your question is equally unfair though, as you know how much I love modernism!

The reason I asked it though is because of the line "Classicists today can be as good as their masters even while still young", which is soon followed by "propose a new ethos -- one no longer dedicated to the recovery of the classical canon of Vitruvius, Palladio and Vignola, but to expanding that canon". The implication of which is that we've already passed the rediscovery phase, which every revival goes through, and we're ready for the expansion of the languauge.

Looking at the Seaside chapel, the interior space does actually seem quite pleasant:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2155/1579010817_e37a121485.jpg?v=0

...and yet, I just can't help but think of dozens of churches from the last 100 years that just seem so much more interesting (FLW's Unity Temple, at which my ex-girlfriend's grandparents worship, Gillespie Kidd & Coia's St Bride's, Corbusier's Notre Dame du Haut, Jørn Utzon's Bagsvard Church church, etc etc etc), and when I go back to thinking about the Seaside chapel, I just can't get Grant Wood out of my head:

http://imagecache2.allposters.com/images/pic/HAD/4241~American-Gothic-Posters.jpg

but what the hell is going on here?

http://www.merrillpastor.com/Courtyard_Apartment/Courtyard_Apartment_03.jpg

This is so funny. You reach for something in your arsenal and reach for mine!

Listen I'm not disputing that any of the churches you list are not anything other than masterpeices. But it is very difficult for me to reach for classical examples from the same period to combat that! Perhaps Lutyen's Liverpool Catherdral if it had been built.

With Classicism we're talking about an architectural language that was largely marginalised from the end of the second world war until the mid 70's. How many talented architects from that period would have sought to explore it at the risk of being ostracised and marginalised and seeing their critical reputation in tatters? Even when it begins to re-emerge its treated as an ironic joke as a way to avoid that. The only serious British Classical architect I can think of from that period that is worth their salt is Raymond Erith. And that's, er..., it.

I think you also have to understand the context and audience that Duany is speaking to. The whole re-discovery of the canon thing has gone hand in hand with a dogmatic insistence on adhering to the rules. Every building produced is scrutinised through that lens. It makes for a very inward looking and elitist movement. But Duany is a reformer and he sees this massive middle ground that isn't occupied by either modernist or the very tiny classical camp and he wants to claim it. He's pointing out that it will never happen for the classical camp if its adherents would rather nit pick over the execution of the details. He also thinks that by doing so they are stifling creativity and consequently risk being stuck in a cul-de-sac (pardon pun). I happen to agree with him.

The thing I like about the Seaside Chapel is that it is a decent ordinary charming piece of work that is probably well loved by its congregation and community. Ok it isn't a peice of high art in the way that Ronchamp is but it is still good work and deserves some respect. And ok the Grant Woods (ouch!) reference did make me laugh! Yes I have to admit it is hard to shake that off and see beyond it.

The reason I have a soft spot for Classicism is because of the likes of Lutyens and Plecnik. They seem to get such joy and invention out of what can be a very humane language. A language that reached enormous creative and artistic heights. It is also a language that solved it's problems with regards to urbanism. Something that modernism still struggles with. I see a lot within the Classical langauge we could learn from. So it depresses me that this enormous langauge, that brings with it so much knowledge, was set aside as somehow unworthy of examination on grounds that seem little more than ideolgical dogma i.e. as being nothing more that the oppressive dead hand of history that had to be lifted.

And no I don't know what's going on with that building either. It doesn't appear to be particularly well resolved three dimensionally.

but what the hell is going on here?

http://www.merrillpastor.com/Courtyard_Apartment/Courtyard_Apartment_03.jpg

It's going to hell :) Big mess and nothing special... After some corrects it would look better, I think.:nuts:

it was asked if Ben Lomond could be seen from Glasgow a while back well thi was taken from springburn early december

http://i89.photobucket.com/albums/k222/loosecanon_2006/DPP_1100-1.jpg

From the P&J (http://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/Article.aspx/1088386?UserKey=):

TV fly-on-the-wall castle goes on market
Locals would like to see £800,000 Plockton home turned into a hotel

By Samantha Chetwynd

Published: 21/02/2009

FOR SALE: Duncraig Castle is on the market as the last of the Dobson family prepare to move out. Sandy McCook

AN IDYLLIC Highland Castle which was the focus of a BBC fly-on-the-wall documentary is back on the market with an asking price of £800,000.

Duncraig Castle, near Plockton in Wester Ross, was bought by 17 members of the Dobson family, originally from the Midlands, in 2002.

Now, after several family feuds, only Sam and Perlin Dobson and their two children remain in the 19th-century castle.

Mr Dobson – who went to court to get his parents to move out of the castle in 2007 – and his wife have decided to move to Jamaica to look after Mrs Dobson’s elderly mother.

The couple have spent around £300,000 renovating the castle and have been operating it as a B&B, as well as hiring it out for weddings.

Yesterday, Plockton Community Council chairman Charlie MacRae said it was no surprise that the Dobsons were selling up, but it would be “sad to see them go”.

He said residents would like to see the castle turned into a hotel, creating jobs and a boost for the economy.

Duncraig Castle was built in 1867 by Alexander Matheson, who made his fortune in the drugs industry.

It changed hands many times until 1946, when it was given to Highland Council.

The castle was used as a domestic science college until the late 1980s but since then it has seen abortive attempts to find alternative uses.

Scotland.gov.uk (http://www.scotland.gov.uk/News/Releases/2009/04/02105730)

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Resource/Img/915/_thm125/0070418.jpg


Funding for rural communities
02/04/2009

More than a thousand proposals from rural businesses and communities have been awarded £67 million from Rural Priorities, as much as the previous three funding rounds put together, it has been announced today.
Successful applicants have included a dairy business in East Lothian who will use their grant to develop the business and give it a competitive edge, and a renewable energy project for a small company in Orkney.
This latest round of Rural Priorities funding was opened up in response to stakeholder demand and has been marked by an unprecedented number of applications for agri-environment projects.
The announcement came as Rural Affairs Secretary Richard Lochhead toured parts of Scotland with Mariann Fischer Boel, European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development.
Mr Lochhead said:
"The Scotland Rural Development Programme (SRDP), and in particular Rural Priorities, is a crucial part of the Scottish Government's economic recovery plan.
"I am pleased therefore to be able to provide funding to so many rural businesses as they strive to develop, expand and remain competitive.
"Successful applicants have included a dairy business in East Lothian who will use their grant to develop the business and give it a competitive edge, and the Fair Isle Bird Observatory, a development which will completely transform the remote island community.
"I am also absolutely delighted to see that, even in the current economic climate, the appetite for agri-environment funding has not waned - far from it.
"Applications for this type of funding have reached such levels that we have received almost as many in this funding round as in the entire first two years of the previous Rural Stewardship Scheme.
"I have been particularly keen to ensure that, despite such demand, there have been resources to fund a number of high quality projects. However, high levels of demand mean that there may well be greater competition for funds in future rounds.

Housing Minister to open architects' office in Glasgow.

2 Apr 2009

As the construction industry faces up to the trauma of the credit crunch, a Highland architecture practice is opening a new office in Glasgow.

Dualchas (http://www.dualchas.com/index.php/Projects/) Building Design - well known for its rural housing - has moved its city office to Templeton at Glasgow Green. And new housing minister, Alex Neil MSP, will be there for the official opening.

Dualchas architect, Neil Stephen said.

"The new office shows that we are confident about the future, and that there are opportunities for architecture practices, despite the recession. We're delighted that the minister will be there to show his support for our industry.

"People often focus on renovations and extensions when the housing market is struggling, and we hope to show that high quality design can be cost effective, as well as beautiful."

An open day for members of the public will be held between 9.30am and 3.30pm on Saturday the 18th of April at unit 4, Doges, Templeton Business Centre at Glasgow Green. Free advice from architects will be available, as well as advise on architect designed house kits from Hebridean Contemporary Homes.

Alex Neil MSP, will be officially opening the office at 4pm.

Lochalsh & Skye Housing Association (http://www.lsha.co.uk/)'s Burnside is now on site.

http://www.lsha.co.uk/images/Burnside%20Plockton%20web.jpg

Architects Rural Design (http://www.ruraldesign.co.uk/).

Burnside, Plockton - a development of 24 houses in a sensitive site on the approach to Plockton in Rosshire (just before the school if you know the area).

http://*************************/scotland/jpgs/burnside_planning_rural_design.jpg

The design is based on the layout of the settlement at Diurnish in Kyle, and will comprise a combination of terraces in render, and 'barns' in timber, stone and corrugated sheet. The buildingsbuildings are low energy incorporating superinsulation.

http://*************************/scotland/jpgs/plockton_context_rural_design.jpg

Based on the principles of homezones the external spaces will be entirely shared surfaces, and incorporate novel ideas for traffic calming.

The client is lochalsh and skye housing association, an application for planning was lodged at the beginning of June.

http://www.ruraldesign.co.uk/images/22_burnside.jpg

been watching this one for a while - good to see they've finally got it on site - when were you up?

Last up a week ago. It's just groundworks at the moment, so not much to see other than a lots of mud and some JCBs. I'm quietly looking forward to seeing this complete. Rural Design aren't exactly OMA, but they're building up a solid body of work that's far above the (admittedly low) quality of most new domestic projects in the Highlands.

That Burnside development is great!!

THROW OF THE DICE: Inverness Town House and Nessie feature on the Highland edition of Monopoly
More Pictures

The Loch Ness Monster, the 19th-century Inverness Town House and the Press and Journal are to feature in a Highland version of Monopoly.

Ben Nevis, CairnGorm mountain and Inverness Airport could also be included in the latest edition of the board game, which will be launched before Christmas.

People in the Highlands are being asked to choose landmarks and places that could become spaces on the board, but the Press and Journal is one of a number of spaces that have already been allocated by the game’s makers.

The newspaper’s logo could appear on one of three community chest spaces, with players who land on the square having to pick up a card which could impose a fine, pay out an insurance premium or send them to jail.

Nessie is likely to be the most expensive “property”, swapping places with London’s Mayfair on the original Monopoly board.

Official Loch Ness Monster Fan Club president Gary Campbell said: “Nessie is a real-life monopoly, generating millions of pounds for the Scottish economy.

“She is Mayfair and all the rest put together, so would be worthy of winning top spot. Nessie is worth about £25-30million a year to Scotland, drawing people from all over the world.”

The new game, which could be produced in English and Gaelic, is also being tipped to boost tourism in the region.

Inverness Provost Jimmy Gray said: “I am certain the Monopoly Highland edition will be a great hit, and with Nessie set to appear very prominently – as we assured by the makers – then it really will have international appeal.”

An Aberdeen version of Monopoly was launched in 2006, with Union Street, Duthie Park, Aberdeen Airport, Aberdeen University and Marischal College earning a place on the board.

The Press and Journal also features on the community chest in the city edition.

Voting for the Highland version starts at 10am today, with the poll closing at 10am on April 2.

Read more: http://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/Article.aspx/1641508#ixzz0hunFKnDK

Hey. I saw on the news that "Truman Show" architect is working on a project in Lochgelly.

Is he still involved with the Tornagrain new town? If so, anyone know how's it coming along? It's not been in the news for a while..

THROW OF THE DICE: Inverness Town House and Nessie feature on the Highland edition of Monopoly
More Pictures

The Loch Ness Monster, the 19th-century Inverness Town House and the Press and Journal are to feature in a Highland version of Monopoly.

Ben Nevis, CairnGorm mountain and Inverness Airport could also be included in the latest edition of the board game, which will be launched before Christmas.

People in the Highlands are being asked to choose landmarks and places that could become spaces on the board, but the Press and Journal is one of a number of spaces that have already been allocated by the game’s makers.

The newspaper’s logo could appear on one of three community chest spaces, with players who land on the square having to pick up a card which could impose a fine, pay out an insurance premium or send them to jail.

Nessie is likely to be the most expensive “property”, swapping places with London’s Mayfair on the original Monopoly board.

Official Loch Ness Monster Fan Club president Gary Campbell said: “Nessie is a real-life monopoly, generating millions of pounds for the Scottish economy.

“She is Mayfair and all the rest put together, so would be worthy of winning top spot. Nessie is worth about £25-30million a year to Scotland, drawing people from all over the world.”

The new game, which could be produced in English and Gaelic, is also being tipped to boost tourism in the region.

Inverness Provost Jimmy Gray said: “I am certain the Monopoly Highland edition will be a great hit, and with Nessie set to appear very prominently – as we assured by the makers – then it really will have international appeal.”

An Aberdeen version of Monopoly was launched in 2006, with Union Street, Duthie Park, Aberdeen Airport, Aberdeen University and Marischal College earning a place on the board.

The Press and Journal also features on the community chest in the city edition.

Voting for the Highland version starts at 10am today, with the poll closing at 10am on April 2.

Read more: http://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/Article.aspx/1641508#ixzz0hunFKnDK


We've already got Invernessopoly. I got given it as a Christmas present around 10 years ago to remind me of home :)

We've already got Invernessopoly. I got given it as a Christmas present around 10 years ago to remind me of home :)

:happy: - this is one is all shiney and new though :yes:, where in Sneck are you from?

Scorguie but been in Glasgow for a good few years now :)

I'm fairly certain that this is going to be Rothiemurchus - will be odd having another town after Aviemore on the way down the road. Also, a wee bit sad considering Rothiemurchus was cleared during the Highland clearences.

New Highland village go-ahead
Authority backs plan for 1,500 homes in cairngorms national park

Plans to create a new village in the Highlands were backed last night by the Cairngorms National Park Authority.

The government agency’s planning committee has approved proposals – in principle – for the construction of as many as 1,500 homes on a site within the vast park.

Meeting at Boat of Garten community hall, members supported the project planned for An Camas Mor on the edge of Aviemore.

Described as one of the biggest developments within the park in a generation, it had already been accepted as part of the Scottish Government’s Sustainable Communities Initiative. Park officials said it would be “an exemplar community for sustainability in terms of the environment, socially, the economy, mobility, and resources management.”

The development, proposed by a consortium led by local Rothiemurchus Estate laird Johnny Grant, is the largest and most complex application to go before the park authority and the only proposal for a new community in any UK national park. It is expected to take 20 years to complete. There was an element of disagreement over the number of homes involved. Planning officers had recommended an 1,100 limit. A 10-9 vote permitted the 1,500 applied for, although a review will be carried out when the development reaches 630 units.

Committee member and local councillor Gregor Rimell said: “I am satisfied that the right number will be reached as we pass each review point.”

But Gus Jones, of the Badenoch and Strathspey Conservation Group said: “This is sad news. It didn’t even follow a recommendation for a reduction to 1,100 homes.

“It shows disregard to principles about conserving biodiversity including principles that they had previously adopted in relation to this very major application.”

The delighted applicant, Mr Grant, said he was keen to hear from people who had shown an interest in living at An Camas Mor.

Confident the project would help tackle a shortage of “affordable” homes in the area, Aviemore Community Council chairman John Grierson said: “We’re delighted the development is going ahead. It’s also a good opportunity to attract new jobs and businesses into the area.” Extensive conditions attached to the approval include a stipulation that the applicant submits a landscape and ecology plan before the full masterplan for the site is submitted and that more substantial areas of woodland and habitats are either retained or created.

The development will be on land to the east of the River Spey, close to Coylumbridge.

The planning committee meeting lasted all day and many objectors attended to make their feelings heard.

Objector John Davison, of nearby Drumuillie, near Boat of Garten, said last night: “I do not think that the park authority should be building a town in what is a national park. I know of no other park in England or Scotland that contemplate building a new town like this.”

Read more: http://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/Article.aspx/1779126#ixzz0qn6BtHu8

Ahhh, the village is going to be called An Camas Mòr by the way, Gaidhlig for 'The Big Bay'. It is indeed on the Rothiemurchus estate, right beside Loch An Eilean.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4067/4395553950_e8830781ce.jpg

I feel sorry for the people who live near the site as that's going to put a lot of pressure on Aviemore.

Is Aviemore busy year round with tourists? I've only ever been past on the A9 without stopping.

Thought i'd put this up here as it concerns most of the highlands.

Ferries review (http://www.scotland.gov.uk/News/Releases/2010/06/11151512)

11/06/2010

A review of ferry services in Scotland has been published by the Scottish Government today.

The Scottish Ferries Review examines current provision of ferry services. It invites respondents to consider a range of changes and improvements suggested by people and communities across Scotland that could be made to meet future customer needs. This includes:


how ferries should be funded and procured
the setting of fares
what kind of services should be supported with public money
who should be responsible for providing these services

I feel sorry for the people who live near the site as that's going to put a lot of pressure on Aviemore.

Is Aviemore busy year round with tourists? I've only ever been past on the A9 without stopping.

Like all mountain towns the world over, it depends on the weather. Generally though Aviemore is a very popular destination for its size (especially during the ski season) and on a warm summers day there will be a lot of people in and about the town.

I think the construction of An Camas Mòr is in sync with the upgrade of the Aviemore to Inverness stretch of the A9 so I'd imagine this would cushion some of the pressure. It is a cracking spot and I hope it succeeds - I certainly welcome anything that moves away from the Inverness / Moray Firth Hell's corridor.

I'm going to be interested in the demographics of those who buy into the village.

There's a few who might commute out of town and a few who'll be employed in and around Aviemore, some unemployed, but isn't there also likely to be quite a high proportion of retired people (which often includes some who don't really understand the place they're moving to until 6 months after they arrive!)?

The economy of Aviemore is going to have to adapt appropriately to the needs of those people. Is it ready? Will it just mean another supermarket, or a broader range of facilities?

Hi guys

I have a bunch of Glencoe and Glen Etive images at my website (http://www.PhotoForMyWall (Http://www.PhotoForMyWall.com)) Photography up there in October is "challenging" to say the least! 75mph wind and 3 days of rain. I had precisely 93 minutes dry weather over the whole weekend! I'd love to know what you think of the website and the images.

Andy

I'm going to be interested in the demographics of those who buy into the village.

There's a few who might commute out of town and a few who'll be employed in and around Aviemore, some unemployed, but isn't there also likely to be quite a high proportion of retired people (which often includes some who don't really understand the place they're moving to until 6 months after they arrive!)?

The economy of Aviemore is going to have to adapt appropriately to the needs of those people. Is it ready? Will it just mean another supermarket, or a broader range of facilities?

Just a guess, but I think we could see quite a young demographic in An Camas Mor suprisingly (it's between Aviemore and the Cairngorm's ski resort) - my family's hoping to buy a small property in An Camas Mor when it's up and running, would be amazing to have something that close to the slopes. Also note that a lot of the migration in the Highlands recently has not been outward but simply to other parts of the Highlands - there has also been a lot of inward migration. So all in all, we'll have to see! But judging by recent predictions and findings, I'd say it's hardly going to be a retirement village and could well end up being the opposite, fingers crossed :happy:

Just a guess, but I think we could see quite a young demographic in An Camas Mor suprisingly
. . . .
I'd say it's hardly going to be a retirement village and could well end up being the oppositeThaks a bit more encouraging than I'd been fearing! Thanks.

Yes, I'm aware of the modest but continuing migration into the Highlands (I've been an observer for 40 years), but was concerned that it wasn't matched by corresponding increases in emplyment, which either means young people, the unemployed or the retured, and where first rate scenery in present, that usually attracts the retired.

I really want to see some more sustainable businesses in the region - other than leisure and tourism, - which is what HIE have been working towards.

Just a guess, but I think we could see quite a young demographic in An Camas Mor suprisingly (it's between Aviemore and the Cairngorm's ski resort) - my family's hoping to buy a small property in An Camas Mor when it's up and running, would be amazing to have something that close to the slopes. Also note that a lot of the migration in the Highlands recently has not been outward but simply to other parts of the Highlands - there has also been a lot of inward migration. So all in all, we'll have to see! But judging by recent predictions and findings, I'd say it's hardly going to be a retirement village and could well end up being the opposite, fingers crossed :happy:

I disagree with you NL. Where are all the young people going to work? If you live in the Highlands as I did, as you did, and you want work. Most of the opportunities are in Inverness and the surrounding area. I certainly wouldn't commute up that A9 every day. What is more likely is retirees and / or holiday home buyers will opt for the village. The same happened in Aviemore when it expanded over recent years. It sounds idyllic but the reality will be something different IMO

I disagree with you NL. Where are all the young people going to work? If you live in the Highlands as I did, as you did, and you want work. Most of the opportunities are in Inverness and the surrounding area. I certainly wouldn't commute up that A9 every day. What is more likely is retirees and / or holiday home buyers will opt for the village. The same happened in Aviemore when it expanded over recent years. It sounds idyllic but the reality will be something different IMO

Too true, we shouldn't assume that An Camas Mor will be an idyllic paradise, but I've got a feeling that An Camas Mor could be quite a vibrant small town and here's why:

- If anyone was in Aviemore this winter, they would have seen just how many young people (say below 30) were around the town due to the cracking ski-ing conditions that the Cairngorms enjoyed. There were many young families going around as well as groups of teenagers and the like. Current winter predictions suggest (and let's be honest, with Aviemore a good percentage of their economy is dependent on good snow conditions) that because we are entering a solar minimum, the next 30 years or so will see more below average winters than the last 30 years. Now that's tourism, I know, but it does have an impact on the place.

- The A9 Aviemore to Inverness is being upgraded over the next few years, I think? So it's not the hellish commute it used to be and could well be fairly easy in the near future.

- Many other reasons but I've got fajitas to eat at the moment :happy:

It could be a nice little town, though surprises me that so many estates are going up despite its supposed to be a national park. It would be nice if some care was taken into the design of the houses, something a little contemporay with variety rather than the stock wimpy homes that seem to be the norm around the area. I also fear that they will be bought as holiday homes and the area will become dead in the winter as I am told the new estates are in Aviemore. But with good care and if a proper community does transpire I see no reason why a new small town could not be a success.

PS - NorthernLimit... hope you enjoyed the Fajitas!

The Scottish Highlands = quite possibly the most beautiful place on earth. Sure, there are other beautiful places, but when you throw the friendliness of the Scottish people, the whiskey and the tumultuous weather into the mix, the Scottish Highlands beat so many other "beautiful" places.

There is really no place on earth like the Scottish Highlands.....always guaranteed to be a jaw-dropping experience.

The Scottish Highlands = quite possibly the most beautiful place on earth. Sure, there are other beautiful places, but when you throw the friendliness of the Scottish people, the whiskey and the tumultuous weather into the mix, the Scottish Highlands beat so many other "beautiful" places.

There is really no place on earth like the Scottish Highlands.....always guaranteed to be a jaw-dropping experience.

Awww :hug: - thanks. What's more, is our apparent eternal decline that's been going on the past two hundred years finally seems to be coming to an end recently, with a growing economy, population, improving living standards and revival of Gaidhlig culture :banana: - come visit sometime :happy:

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Wind power plan to beat budget cuts
By Val Sweeney
Published: 22 June, 2010

FEARS of public spending cuts have prompted local residents to safeguard their communities by voting to buy a 100ft wind turbine.

The venture - the first of its kind in the Inverness area - is expected to earn villages in Glenurquhart and Strathglass at least £100,000 a year to spend on projects that are unlikely to attract council or government support as budgets are slashed.

These could include building more affordable housing and improving children's play areas in villages from Drumnadrochit to Cannich.

A ballot revealed overwhelming local support for the idea of buying a turbine as part of a £13 million five-turbine scheme - which has yet to be given planning permission - on farmland owned by the Girvan family at Corrimony.

Anne MacDonald is the chairman of Soirbheas Ltd, a voluntary-run company formed three years ago to investigate the potential of a community partnership with the Girvans.

She is delighted by the ballot result and explained that while many communities benefit financially from wind farm developments, most are run by large companies. In Glenurquhart, people will buy and erect their own turbine and then sell the electricity it generates.

The area already has a history of self-reliance - building and running its own elderly care centre in Drumnadrochit - and this would be a way of helping other initiatives to flourish.

"I think we have to begin to be more sustainable in rural areas and be less reliant in view of public spending," Mrs MacDonald said.

Ballot papers were sent out to everyone on the electoral roll to gauge support for the project. Just over 600 - about 37 per cent - were returned and of these, 78 per cent were in favour.

A planning application has now been submitted to Highland Council for the five turbines which will be about 100ft tall and set 820ft apart.

Depending on consent being granted, Soirbheas will seek to raise the money for its wind turbine from bank loans and grants and possibly European funding. Due to the huge costs involved, the community will not be asked to financially support the project.

Mrs MacDonald said although she was unable to give precise figures at this stage, the most pessimistic estimates reckoned the turbine could provide an annual income of about £100,000. This would increase once the bank loans were repaid.

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, whose nearby Corrimony reserve is renowned for rare birds such as the capercaillie and black grouse, has been involved in talks. "They don't seem to have any major objections," said Mrs MacDonald. "If it goes ahead, we have agreed that construction work would only go ahead at certain times of the year."

She added that care had been taken to minimise the impact while various studies, including an environmental impact assessment, have also been carried out.

An RSPB spokeswoman confirmed it was currently assessing the details of the proposal. "At this present stage we are in discussions with the developer," she said.

* Soirbheas will hold its annual general meeting on Friday at Balnain Hall starting at 7.30pm.

Skye restaurant rated in world’s top five
Renowned critic names remote Three Chimneys as one of the best on planet

By Neil MacPhail

Published: 03/07/2010

A SKYE restaurant was on top of the world last night after being declared one of the best five places on the planet to eat.

The Three Chimneys restaurant at Colbost is worthy of the global accolade, according to world-renowned New York Times restaurant critic and Pulitzer prize winning food writer Frank Bruni.

Mr Bruni revealed his personal choice of the ultimate dining experiences in an article that appears on www.epicurious.com, a popular website with American foodies.

He said The Three Chimneys was “an enchanting experience through and through. Some diners come by helicopter from Edinburgh or Glasgow: that's how big a deal this restaurant is in Scotland. It's intimate, beautiful, serves amazingly fresh local seafood, and does right by the local lamb as well.”

Chef Shirley Spear, who runs the restaurant with husband Eddie, said: ‘This is a huge compliment.

“Frank Bruni must have eaten at all the most prestigious restaurants in the world.

“We did not know it, but he visited us two years ago and obviously still retains fond memories of his experience here.

“To be selected as one of only five well-known greats such as Trattoria Monti in Rome or Hill Country in New York is staggering.”

She added: “To be named as being one of Frank Bruni’s favourite top five restaurants in the world is possibly the biggest thrill of a lifetime of very hard work, but it also puts the whole team here under enormous pressure to perform even better than ever before.”

The Spears took over The Three Chimneys when they made a lifestyle change and moved with their young children from Croydon to the remote corner of north-west Skye.

Read more: http://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/Article.aspx/1810982#ixzz0sdreHYFk

Architects who defended north buildings praise ‘farm shed’ house
They present award to Skye home inspired by agricultural outhouse

By neil macphail

Published: 03/07/2010

STRIKING HOME: The Inverness Architectural Association has chosen the The Black

A Highland architects’ group, which recently sprang to the defence of the north’s new buildings and declared that they were not all “carbuncles”, has awarded a top prize to a house inspired by a farm shed.

Inverness Architectural Association (IAA) thought the striking home, called The Black Shed, at Skinidin on Skye, merited top honours in their Design Awards for the west Highlands.

Architects Rural Design, based at Dunvegan, Skye, came up with the prize-winning design in the New Building Category, with another Skye architects, Dualchas, at Sleat, picking up a commendation in the same category with the dramatic new Raasay Hall.

Dualchas also came top in the New Life for Old Buildings Category for their conversion of a traditional whitehouse at Burnside, Elgol, Skye.

Alan Dickson, a partner with Rural Design, said the shed inspiration was an attempt not to group too many obvious homes together.

He added: “There was a shed originally built on the footprint of the house, and we were in a way trying not to draw too much attention to the new house.”

The winning projects were announced last night at an event at Tigh Na Sgire, Portree.

The ceremony also marked the opening of an exhibition until July 19, featuring the eight projects across the west Highlands shortlisted for this year’s IAA Design Awards.

IAA President Calum MacLean said: “The standard of entries in the Highland west area was very good indeed and because of this some very good projects were unfortunate not to have received an accolade.

It reflects positively on all the projects shortlisted that the winners on this occasion really were exceptional. These are projects which are receiving international recognition.”

The winning projects for the west Highland area will now go forward to the final, in November, where the best projects from other areas across the north will be brought together and the overall winners announced.

The IAA has asked the public to participate in the awards by submitting nominations for the Best New Building in the Highlands and islands.

Nomination forms will be available at the exhibition or ideas can be submitted by email to awards@highlandarchitects.org.

Read more: http://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/Article.aspx/1811214#ixzz0sdtUBxAS

Whoa, that's quite the accolade for the Three Chimneys.

Too true, we shouldn't assume that An Camas Mor will be an idyllic paradise, but I've got a feeling that An Camas Mor could be quite a vibrant small town and here's why:

- If anyone was in Aviemore this winter, they would have seen just how many young people (say below 30) were around the town due to the cracking ski-ing conditions that the Cairngorms enjoyed. There were many young families going around as well as groups of teenagers and the like. Current winter predictions suggest (and let's be honest, with Aviemore a good percentage of their economy is dependent on good snow conditions) that because we are entering a solar minimum, the next 30 years or so will see more below average winters than the last 30 years. Now that's tourism, I know, but it does have an impact on the place.

- The A9 Aviemore to Inverness is being upgraded over the next few years, I think? So it's not the hellish commute it used to be and could well be fairly easy in the near future.

- Many other reasons but I've got fajitas to eat at the moment :happy:

absolutely. and i hope it happens this winter and i can go skiing there again... beats having to go to europe.

The Highland's and area around Loch Lomond are my favourite place in the world. I have been countless times and will continue to try and go back every year of my life. It p!isses all over any tiresome beach holiday Spain or Greece etc. My favourite time to go is Autumn/Winter as in my opinion this is when the scenery is most dramatic. I love the mountains against the dark grey skies, the fog and snow. Whenever I go I travel around as I cannot go to just one place. My favourite places to go are Ullapool, Grantown-on-Spey, Sky and Aviemore. The best part of it though is the driving around. The stretch from Tarbet to Kyle-of-Lochalsh and from Ullapool to Durness are awesome. I was sad to read that homes are being built on the Rothiemurchas Estate as it's stunning.

Anyway enough rambling, I though I would share some of the pics I have taken on my many journey's altough I cannot remember where half of them were.

Apologies now for flooding the thread!!

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Some lovely photos there Pete, love the last one and I spot the old Trossachs Hotel there too :yes:

You ever travelled to Inbhir Pollaidh?

Yes, great photos. This one sums up why I love the Highlands:

http://i895.photobucket.com/albums/ac153/PeteVincent82/Scotland/Photo029.jpg

The stunning scenery, the bleakness, the space, the lack of people.... :D

Where is this?

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Definitely looks like Perthshire or the far southern Highlands - maybe around Pitlochry, Blair Athol or something?

All those pine trees and water. :drool:

I bet Perthshire misses out on all the tourism of the Highlands but some parts do look beautiful. In fact, forget about Invernessssssshire - who needs to go so far north? ;)

Invernesssssssssssshire is king Butters, and don't you forget it :nono:

West is best when it comes to Scotland though, no doubt.

Worth noting that some of Perthshire is in the Highlands - so it can get involved in that banter I guess :yes:

Where is this?


Killin, Falls of Dochart, I think.

Scottish scenery is stunning. Some of the most gorgeous countryside anywhere in the world.

Some lovely photos there Pete, love the last one and I spot the old Trossachs Hotel there too

You ever travelled to Inbhir Pollaidh?

Thanks very much :) I've never travelled to Inbir Pollaidh....where is it?

Where is this?



Killin, Falls of Dochart, I think.

Yea that's the place. Beautiful littleplace. It was hammering it down....made it all the more interesting!!

Thanks very much :) I've never travelled to Inbir Pollaidh....where is it?






Northern Highlands, near Ullapool, Clachtoll and the like. Some very famous hills, mountains and lochs such as Suil bheinn, Canisp, Loch na h-oidhche, Loch Gorm Mor, Loch Maree, Cuil Beag Stac Pollaidh etc.

I'll post a few pictures later (I'm on a Mac at the moment and really can't deal with the lack of right click :nuts:)

^^

Is "Stac Pollaidh" Stack Polly to us English folk? :shifty: I had a roadside picnic somewhere around there in 2001. :happy:

^^

Is "Stac Pollaidh" Stack Polly to us English folk? :shifty: I had a roadside picnic somewhere around there in 2001. :happy:

:yes: That's one Gaelic coconut for you Butters.

I try to avoid using English alternative names for topographical features as in most cases they have very little meaning. Take Ben Wyvis beside Inverness, no meaning, sounds OK and looks like it could be a man's name. Beinn Uais (it's Gaelic name, pronounced Ben Oo-eesh) however means Mount Terror, far more badass :happy:

A VIRTUAL web version of the Highlands is beginning to attract visitors to the region in real life, according to its creator.

Parts of Inverness, Drumnadrochit and Fort Augustus have been created in Second Life - a 3D virtual world where users design their own avatars, a computer-generated version of themselves, to live on-line and interact.

There are 16 million residents on Second Life who can now visit the Loch Ness Exhibition Centre, Urquhart Castle, Fort Augustus Abbey, Aldourie Castle, the Loch Ness Inn, Boleskine House and Inverness Castle, which is home to a tourist information office, with links to dozens of real bed and breakfasts and guest houses.

Although you cannot go inside Urquhart Castle yet, work is under way to build a full-size, walk around 3D replica of the castle as it was in the 14th and 15th century.

Virtual visitors have so far come from the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Japan.

And there are plans to expand the web world with the local tour guide, who came up with the idea, saying it is having a positive effect on tourism.

"It is all very experimental and we don't know what the long-term benefits might be to tourist businesses, but already some visitors who have sampled our cyber Highlands have found their way to the real Highlands and that must be good for the region," explained Tony Harmsworth, who runs Inverness Tours and has been in the tourist industry for over 30 years.

Feedback from bed and breakfasts and hotels shows it is having an impact, while Mr Harmsworth has taken several bookings from people who visited the Highlands in Second Life and then chose to visit for real.

Now, further expansion is planned to include Fort William, Beauly, Culloden and Nairn.

Mr Harmsworth, a director of Destination Loch Ness and Drumnadrochit Chamber of Commerce and Tourist Association, came up with the idea three years ago when he suffered a stroke. He was off work, stuck at home and wandered into Second Life by chance.

Tony Harmsworth developed the virtual Highlands after suffering a stroke. And (right) his avatar persona Gerald Wylie.

"Scotland was being Americanised and very poorly portrayed in Second Life," he said.

One year later, and with his recuperation complete, his virtual Highlands was starting to become a major cyber attraction.

"With a few friends, I bought some cyber land," he said. "We were determined to produce something worthy of the real Highlands."

His friends span the world and include a pet shop owner in Germany who has helped design the virtual Highlands with his knowledge of programming.

Developers have to pay a service charge to Second Life to create and develop land and advertising and sponsorship from several local businesses has made the venture possible. One sponsor, for example, is Jacobite Cruises, which runs a boat across Loch Ness in Second Life.

In addition to sponsors and advertisers, there is an entire in-world economy, and Inverness High Street is full of shops, trading in a range of products and services. Rental charges go towards developing the community.

While most retailers sell items - using Second Life's unique currency - for consumption, in the virtual world by avatars, other shops sell real products for mail order delivery worldwide.

"We have something in the region of 100 shops, all rented by different people all over the world, in our virtual Inverness city," Mr Harmsworth continued.



And here's a couple of Inbhir Pollaidh photos that I couldn't work out how to post on a Mac yesterday. To me, Inbhir Pollaidh is Scotland's desert (albeit a very beautiful one).

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It's amazing when the area freezes over in winter and in summer there are some really beautiful little beaches which often have views of the mountains all the way down the coast.

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New Loch Ard Boathouse:

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New Ericht Visitor Centre

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Is that Suilven - or however you spell it?

Are those beach pics Achmelvich? Or once again however you spell it. That's the furthest north I've been - but I've been there twice. First time in 2001 it was HOT but I didn't swim, second time in 2003 it was cold yet I'd got my swimmingstuffs that time. :(

Is that Suilven - or however you spell it?

Are those beach pics Achmelvich? Or once again however you spell it. That's the furthest north I've been - but I've been there twice. First time in 2001 it was HOT but I didn't swim, second time in 2003 it was cold yet I'd got my swimmingstuffs that time. :(

Well well Butters, that's another two Gaelic coconuts for you :yes: - you can open your own shop soon! That is indeed Suilven, the Nipple of the North. The first beach photo is Clachtoll however (where my family are from) near Lochinver and Stoer.

1000 new houses? I'm beginning to wonder what the Highlands of the future will look like, we're looking at An Camas Mor, Tornagrain, large Invernessian expansion, Stornoway expansion, the death of Caithness, Fort William expansion.


Lease-back plan could see 1,000 Highlands council houses built


THOUSANDS of new council houses could be built across Scotland under a pioneering model aimed at delivering affordable housing.
Alex Neil, the housing minister revealed yesterday, as the Cabinet met in Dornoch, that the Scottish Government is discussing a pilot with Highland Council that could see up to 1,000 new homes in the region.

The proposed "lend and lease back" scheme will be discussed by councillors next week.

Under the plan, as council houses become vacant they would transfer to a private partner in return for a capital payment. This would then be used to build new houses for let as council tenancies.

Mr Neil said: "You are sitting with a huge stock of housing that has a very substantial value and you can release some of that money to borrow money to fund new-build housing. Its using the assets a lot more effectively."

Its not the 1000 new homes that bothers me, nor that they'll all be council housing, but I'm not persuaded that there is a demand to buy 1000 existing council homes.

A lot of them are really awful; and who's going to want to buy one and be able to raise the finance?
Will they come with guaranteed planning permission to convert to a guest house, pub or live-work workshop/studio/office? That might help (in some areas, anyway).

Its not the 1000 new homes that bothers me, nor that they'll all be council housing, but I'm not persuaded that there is a demand to buy 1000 existing council homes.

A lot of them are really awful; and who's going to want to buy one and be able to raise the finance?
Will they come with guaranteed planning permission to convert to a guest house, pub or live-work workshop/studio/office? That might help (in some areas, anyway).

When they say 1000 new homes, it really should read "1000 new Inverness / Speyside / Moray homes" - because a lot of them that's what they mean unfortunately.

What's happening DXnewcastle is that some of the demand for new housing is because of migration within the Highlands themselves, Caithness and the rural areas are seeing an exodus of population whereas Inverness, Aviemore, Stornoway, Fort William etc are seeing strong growth. Essentially we're seeing a late industrial revolution in that sense :lol:

Many of the houses are based on one of the housing expo designs, which at least adds a grain of hope to this.

. . . some of the demand for new housing is because of migration within the Highlands themselves, Caithness and the rural areas are seeing an exodus of population whereas Inverness, Aviemore, Stornoway, Fort William etc are seeing strong growth. Essentially we're seeing a late industrial revolution in that sense.Dunno about "industrial" but I know what you mean.
I always get annoyed when reading about road developments that we don't have rail bridges at Kessock and the Dornoch Firth (and other key links for that matter). This is a handicap for many in the north.
HIE have made some good progress but there's masses more intervention with public money which I'm sure could retain families and businesses in the North. (and what's the appeal of Ft.William anyway? Oh yes. It DOES have a rail link to the centre of the universe. Thanks, though, to public sector intervention - it examples were ever needed!)).

Many of the houses are based on one of the housing expo designs, which at least adds a grain of hope to this.I agree. I hadn't appreciated that; but it still leaves me doubting the take up for the 'old' council properties, much of which is dire.

Dunno about "industrial" but I know what you mean.
I always get annoyed when reading about road developments that we don't have rail bridges at Kessock and the Dornoch Firth (and other key links for that matter). This is a handicap for many in the north.
HIE have made some good progress but there's masses more intervention with public money which I'm sure could retain families and businesses in the North. (and what's the appeal of Ft.William anyway? Oh yes. It DOES have a rail link to the centre of the universe. Thanks, though, to public sector intervention - it examples were ever needed!)).

I agree. I hadn't appreciated that; but it still leaves me doubting the take up for the 'old' council properties, much of which is dire.

I've never understood the appeal with Fort William myself, I mean it's a good base but I'd go as far as saying that I prefer Kyle :puke:

I really only see one direction that Caithness can head now and that is straight down the toilet. It is a big shame really :(

The island of Hiort in St.Kilda to be repopulated? I know I'd give it a go when I'm a bit older / passed it.



80 years after St Kilda was abandoned, it may be time to return


Published Date: 13 August 2010
By JOHN ROSS
THE abandoned St Kilda archipelago should be repopulated 80 years after its last inhabitants evacuated to the mainland, it has been suggested.


As events are held to mark the 80th anniversary of the evacuation of the remote north Atlantic island group, a historian says it is time for people to return to live there.

Iain Thornber is based in the Morvern peninsula, where most of the 36 remaining St Kildans resettled after leaving their home on 29 August, 1930.

The islanders had petitioned the Scottish secretary to be removed after their way of life on the isolated outpost became unsustainable.

Mr Thornber, who met many of the exiled St Kildans in later years, believes the archipelago could be resettled and people would be queuing up to move there.

He said that, following a critical report by George Reid on St Kilda owners, the National Trust for Scotland, some of the trust's properties might have to be run by other bodies, and he suggested a community buy-out involving descendants of the evacuees could be possible.

"Now is their chance with St Kilda. Instead of the bulk of people going out there to look at the past, they could see a live community again", he said.

"It surely cannot be beyond the wit of modern man with techniques in eco-friendly, super-insulated houses, the means to generate electricity through wind and wave power, refrigeration and satellite communication, medical care and sea and air transport, to repopulate and sustain a community there again. They would be overwhelmed by applicants".

Mr Thornber claimed many of the St Kildans had expressed an interest in returning.

"There was a longing to go back, and it wasn't just pure sentimentalism," he said. "Certainly, the ones I met hankered to go back.

"I think if they had managed to hang on for another ten years they would have got back-up.

"But they were an ageing population and were beginning to depend very much on visitors coming in.

"I think there would be an appetite for a buy-out. I can see a good going community there. It's got a lot of potential."

Professor Jim Hunter, director of the Centre of History, part of the prospective University of the Highlands and Islands, said: "In principle, it could be repopulated, but I would have thought it would be extremely unlikely the various authorities would give this much encouragement.

"In relation to public spending, many people would feel those communities that have survived have a higher priority than trying to re-establish one in a places like St Kilda."

A NTS spokeswoman said Mr Thornber's proposal was "an interesting idea", but stressed it is not one it plans to pursue.

She said: "St Kilda remains a very remote and isolated place.

Congratulations to Rural Design! A very good firm and its great to see them getting the recognition they deserve. Both this and their well received ‘The Secret Garden’ house at the Scottish Housing Expo (the house I enjoyed most at the Expo) are getting them some good publicity and generating column inches. And… it couldn’t have happen to nicer people.

The Saltire Society Housing Design Awards Winners Announced.

The Saltire Society has presented its 2010 Housing Design Awards at a high profile ceremony in Edinburgh – with Scottish Culture Minister Fiona Hyslop MSP handing out the gongs.

Skye practice Rural Design sported the largest smiles of the afternoon, after their striking timber house at Fiscavaig was not only awarded in the ‘Private Dwelling-New Build’ category, but also enjoyed the honour of becoming the first ever recipient of the ‘Saltire Medal’.

The Saltire Medal is a special award and cash prize, which was chosen by the inaugural guest chair of the awards - and current world architect of the year - John McAslan. The accolade was introduced as part of a raft of changes to this year’s scheme, which enjoyed a dramatic surge in entries in 2010.
Colin Andrew Smith Architect’s spectacularly situated ‘Rock House’ in Perthshire also picked up an award in the same category as 15 Fiscavaig, where the judges also commended Roxburgh McEwan’s ‘Bookend Cottage’ in Tobermory.

In what has been another difficult year for architects and house-builders, it was perhaps unsurprising that the ‘Renovations, Alterations and Extensions’ section received numerous submissions; with Studio KAP architects in Glasgow scooping two of the coveted awards. Archial Architects were also awarded for their stylish renovation and conversion the ‘Clocktower’ building – an imposing former Jute Mill on the Dundee’s waterfront.

Elder and Cannon Architects picked both an award and commendation for projects in Clydebank and Edinburgh in the ‘Large Scale Housing Development’ section. And after being the only ‘Small Scale Housing Development’ short-listed, Gokay Deveci’s ‘Tigh Na Cladach’ (in guest chair John McAslan’s native Dunoon) received a commendation from the judging panel.

Mr McAslan congratulated the extremely high quality of entry to this year’s scheme, which has seen a 100 % increase in submissions on 2008/2009. He also explained his choice for the inaugural Saltire Medal:
Guest of Honour Fiona Hyslop MSP stressed the importance of schemes like the Saltire Society’s in ensuring a diverse, innovative housing stock for Scotland

Speaking of Rural Design, here are some images of Burnside, Plockton, for Lochalsh & Skye Housing Association. My Dad assures me that he's in one of these photos, but I can't spot him.

http://www.lsha.co.uk/images/Plockton/Plockton-Open-1.jpg http://www.lsha.co.uk/images/Plockton/Plockton-Open-2.jpg
http://www.lsha.co.uk/images/Plockton/Plockton-Open-3.jpg

More here (http://www.lsha.co.uk/images/Plockton/Plockton%20Burnside.pdf).

From BBC Scotland (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-11372686)

Direct flights between Inverness and Amsterdam could be up and running by next summer, according to airline Flybe.

It said it was close to concluding a deal with possible partners in the Netherlands for the venture.

Flybe said it hoped to make an official announcement as soon as November.

The company has posted new figures showing it was one of just three European airlines to keep making a profit through the recession.

Chief commercial officer Mike Rutter said Flybe was doing well and an Inverness to Amsterdam route would be an excellent addition to its services

I believe that this has been tried before and failed, but Flybe are the airline you would expect could make this work if anyone can.

I'm sure I flew Inverness to Amsterdam on KLM, once in the distant past.

From BBC Scotland (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-11372686)



I believe that this has been tried before and failed, but Flybe are the airline you would expect could make this work if anyone can.

Inverness is such a bizzare location for flights and always will be: will we go, will we not? Will 60% of the population fly on a Sunday, or will we not? I think it's fair to say that the Sneck (read Snegaidh or Inverness) will have enough of a tourist / business industry during summer but will struggle during those very long, cold winter days.

Interesting conference (pdf) (http://www.edinburgharchitecture.co.uk/images/stories/norwegian_tourist_routes.pdf) at The Hub today looking at Norway's National Tourist Routes as a model for Scotland. Some dreary responses in the The Scotsman (http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/scotland/Structures-like-this-one-could.6565021.jp?articlepage=1).

It's a quandary, creating interventions in areas of outstanding beauty but given the hideous gravel pans and burger vans we're currently blighted with these look like a preferable alternative.

http://www.archdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/1541025636_torvdalshalsen01-ss-1-527x450.jpg

http://www.archdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/1461908936_grunnfor09-hs-1-528x396.jpg

http://www.archdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/730973422_aurland-2-47-299x450.jpg

http://www.archdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/1250604213-viewpoint-528x364.jpg

http://www.turistveg.no/stream_file.asp?iEntityId=1742

Official Norwegian website here (http://www.turistveg.no/).

^^


omg.....:(

I think these people who comment on the Scotsman article don't really understand what's happening here - a model does not necessarily mean we'll make carbon copies, but the Norwegian designs are certainly a great place to find inspiration.

I think these people who comment on the Scotsman article don't really understand what's happening here -

Do people who comment online on newspaper articles ever understand whats happening? I thought they just rattled on, fueled by their own indignation.

Of course were we to ever do anything like that over here (which I think we should) they would look and be very different, preferably easy to put together and each one specific to its site.

Quite right about the keyboard warriors on these newspaper sites, they're absolutely fucking exhausted - thousands of trolls in one discussion, nightmare! :ohno:

Sometimes, as I'm sure you'll appreciate with regards to pine houses on the Scottish west coast, a direct copy from Scandinavian to Scottish just really doesn't work - some form of translation is needed. Stone does work well in Scotland for a reason - it would be nice to see some form of modern takes on Black Houses and Crannogs, but perhaps that's asking a bit much.

Raasay Community Hall

http://*************************/images/jpgs/scotland/raasay_community_hall_r021110_al.jpg

http://*************************/images/jpgs/scotland/raasay_community_hall_d021110_5.jpg

http://*************************/images/jpgs/scotland/raasay_community_hall_d021110_3.jpg

Dualchas design short listed for best building in Scotland award.

Edit: sigh over E-architect blocking streaming - I'll sort the above out later.

High praise for new university

Evening Times 2nd February 2011

Scotland's newest university has been hailed as a "fantastic achievement".

The UHI Millennium Institute has become the University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI) following confirmation from the Privy Council.

It represents the realisation of a long-time ambition for the region to have its own university to support economic development and help sustain rural and island communities.

The UHI comprises 13 colleges, specialist institutions and research centres spread across the Highlands and Islands and uses information technology to link together students and staff across dispersed communities.

Professor Matthew MacIver CBE, chair of the UHI Court, said: "This is a defining moment in the history of the Highlands and Islands. For centuries we have been exporting intellectual talent to all corners of the globe. We are now at a point where that flow can be reversed.

"The new University of the Highlands and Islands will be a powerhouse for the economic, social and cultural development of the region."

UHI has more than 8,000 students and over 100 courses in subjects including marine science, sustainable rural development, Gaelic studies, fine art, engineering, social sciences, child and youth studies, archaeology, computing, history, and business leadership and management.

Education Secretary Michael Russell said: "Today marks a fantastic achievement not only for all staff, students, and supporters but also for the Highlands and Islands.

"However, university title does not mark the end of the road for UHI. Rather it heralds the start of a process which will see this innovative model for delivering higher education developing further. I look forward to seeing all stakeholders working with the new university and playing their fullest part in taking UHI to the next level, so that it may serve the people and the economy of the Highlands and Islands."

The UHI's application for university status was supported by the universities of Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Strathclyde, who will continue to work with UHI in its future development.

http://breakingnews.heraldscotland.com/breaking-news/?mode=article&site=et&id=N0497431296615536962A

"Skye's the Limit :cripes: for Ambitious New Village" - A'Chill Bheag / Kilbeg

AN ambitious multi-million-pound vision to build a new village on Skye has come a step closer to reality.
The Clan Donald Lands Trust (CDLT) wants to create the development of housing, commercial, educational and leisure facilities at Kilbeg located on the Sleat peninsula.

The proposals, which include 93 homes, four offices, a shop, cafe-bar and spo. One of the aims of the master plan is to link the two campuses of Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, Scotland's national centre for Gaelic language and culture, and now part of the new university of the Highlands and Islands, into the heart of the village.

This will allow the college, which already caters for up to 200 students, to expand, develop new teaching and conference facilities and provide more student accommodation. The old college site is being earmarked for a conference centre while five new residential and teaching buildings are planned at the new college site.

Proposals would also include a village green and woodland trails as there are currently no public green spaces or sports facilities for the residents of south Skye.

The settlement will be built up over the next 15 to 20 years and it is hoped this will help families remain in the area and assist firms who need housing to attract and retain staff.

CDLT is a charitable trust that owns 20,000 acres of the southern half of the Sleat peninsula and is the second largest employer after the college.
The trust runs a large working estate and a visitor centre, incorporating a museum, historic gardens, self-catering accommodation and restaurant.

Developers aim to make Kilbeg an exemplary environment, incorporating innovative design that is sensitive to the scenic area and will be created as a sustainable village, achieving highest possible energy efficiencies.
The first phase of the development could cost £4 million and would concentrate on building 14 affordable homes, as well as an enterprise unit which would allow the college to increase staff.

The plan was? approved in principle by Highland Council's Ross, Skye and Lochaber planning applications committee yesterday.

Norman Gillies, development director for the trust, said: "It is very good news. We now have to submit a phasing plan showing how we think the work will proceed over the years and then seek detailed planning for Phase 1, which we hope to do as quickly as possible and when we find the necessary capital."

He said Phase 1 will include water and sewerage works an electricity sub-station and roads.

He added: "This is a major development for Skye. It's an expensive exercise and in this present economic climate it will be difficult but not insurmountable,"

Mr Gillies said: "The development of Kilbeg represents a unique opportunity for the trust and the local community to collaborate in the realisation of a new village, offering much needed room to grow and modernised infrastructure for the area."

^^ A photo of the area around A'Chill Bheag / Kilbeg which is directly beside Sabhal Mor Ostaig - going to have a stunning view!

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4138/4768759342_7471a9ec9c_b.jpg

how possible is it to get to the reservoir at glendoe?

if so can the journey be done on bikes?

Dualling of Perth to Inverness A9 to finish by 2025
BBC News 29th November 2010

Scottish ministers are to set out plans to complete the dualling of the A9 from Perth to Inverness, BBC Scotland has learned.

A rolling programme of sustained investment will see the project completed by 2025.

There will be a detailed programme of sustained investment year by year, progressively upgrading the road.

The details will be announced in a long-range capital programme to be set out at Holyrood next week.

Ministers believe upgrading the road will give a guaranteed boost to the Highland economy.

It is understood innovative investment models will be deployed and money switched from day to day spending.

Stretches of the A9 have been the scenes of a number of fatal and serious accidents.

A report commissioned by Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) and transport campaign group Hitrans in 2007 said that dualling the A9 from Inverness to Perth could generate almost £1bn for the Highlands and Islands economy.

The A9 Perth to Inverness Economic Appraisal Study estimated journey times could be cut by 22 minutes.

It predicted that this would led to 724 jobs being created in the short-term rising to 4,500 over 30 years.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-15932030

The total cost of £3-4 billion seems prohibitive given we are probably facing 10 years of austerity. Completing the entire route seems unlikely but hopefully they can deliver the most urgently needed improvements, namely dualling Perth to Blair Atholl which is the busiest section, and grade separating the 3 big roundabouts. Will be interested to see details of the innovative investment models.

VisitScotland boss says Disney film can help Scotland
BBC News 20th December 2011

http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/57418000/jpg/_57418003_braveindex_pixar_464.jpg

A new Disney/Pixar film set in the Scottish Highlands could help boost tourism during difficult trading times, a VisitScotland boss has said.

Brave, which has characters voiced by Scots including Billy Connolly, Kevin McKidd and Craig Ferguson, is to be released in August 2012.

VisitScotland chairman Mike Cantlay said it would be shown in 72 countries and dubbed into several languages.

He said it would give Scotland and the Highlands specifically huge exposure.

Formerly called The Bear and the Bow, Brave tells the story of Merida, an impetuous girl who defies an age-old custom and inadvertently unleashes chaos, forcing her to discover the meaning of true bravery before it is too late.

Scots actress Kelly Macdonald provides the voice for Merida, and Robbie Coltrane voices a lord called Dingwall - the name of a town in Ross-shire in the Highlands...

...Mr Cantlay said he expected the new Disney/Pixar to give Scotland even bigger exposure than Mel Gibson's Braveheart amid challenging times for the tourism industry.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-16252858

VisitScotland boss says Disney film can help Scotland
BBC News 20th December 2011

http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/57418000/jpg/_57418003_braveindex_pixar_464.jpg

A new Disney/Pixar film set in the Scottish Highlands could help boost tourism during difficult trading times, a VisitScotland boss has said.

Brave, which has characters voiced by Scots including Billy Connolly, Kevin McKidd and Craig Ferguson, is to be released in August 2012.

VisitScotland chairman Mike Cantlay said it would be shown in 72 countries and dubbed into several languages.

He said it would give Scotland and the Highlands specifically huge exposure.

Formerly called The Bear and the Bow, Brave tells the story of Merida, an impetuous girl who defies an age-old custom and inadvertently unleashes chaos, forcing her to discover the meaning of true bravery before it is too late.

Scots actress Kelly Macdonald provides the voice for Merida, and Robbie Coltrane voices a lord called Dingwall - the name of a town in Ross-shire in the Highlands...

...Mr Cantlay said he expected the new Disney/Pixar to give Scotland even bigger exposure than Mel Gibson's Braveheart amid challenging times for the tourism industry.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-16252858

Yeah... As soon as i watched shrek i wanted to go to "far, far, far away"

^ Obvious Scotland is obvious though, alone it won't do much but lots of exposure does raise a country's profile.

Nice bastardisation of Scottish culture and histories there I see, looks like a nicely done film all the same!

Highland Council leader suggests free island visits (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-16427678)

The leader of Highland Council has said everyone living in Scotland should get a voucher providing free travel to a Scottish island.

Michael Foxley has made the suggestion to VisitScotland chairman Mike Cantlay and Tourism Minister Fergus Ewing.

He said the scheme would help mark Scotland's Islands, a celebration of island culture that ends in April.

He added that although ferry firms would lose out on fees, passengers would spend money during the trips.

Mr Foxley said the vouchers scheme could start with secondary school pupils.

He said: "Although there is a theoretical loss of income to the ferry companies neither Calmac nor NorthLink Ferries should actually lose out as people would still buy food and drink on board and the potential for repeat trips would be encouraged.

"There would also be benefits to mainland ports as people will require food, drink and accommodation."

The council leader said he was still waiting for feedback from the Scottish government on the idea.

Completely free trips might be too costly but at least some subsidised travel could definitely boost local economies, and at the city-dwellers end (for school pupils especially) could really boost appreciation and respect for the country on our doorstep.

42537721

The Scotsman, 14th December, 2012

A £14 million national archive centre for the nuclear industry is to go ahead in Caithness, near to the Dounreay experimental power complex.

• Project was first mooted in 2008 and will be constructed on land owned by the Highland Council

• The archive will create up to 20 jobs and hold between 20-30 million digital, paper and photographic records from civil nuclear sites dating back to the 1940s

The archive – which could create up to 20 jobs – would hold between 20 to 30 million digital, paper and photographic records from civil nuclear sites in the UK dating back to the 1940s.

The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority has announced it is to proceed with the next phase of the project, which was first mooted back in 2008. The new building, to be constructed on land owned by Highland Council near Wick Airport – just a few miles from Dounreay, which was built in the 1950s and is currently being decommissioned – could be open by 2016.

The NDA is working in partnership with local authority to provide a new home for the council’s North Highland Archive within the new centre.

The NDA has a remit from the Government to help mitigate the negative impact on local communities of decommissioning the UK’s redundant nuclear sites.

The authority has chosen to site the archive in Caithness so that anticipated economic benefits from the project will be realised in a community which has been identified as a priority area for NDA socio economic support.

NDA chairman Stephen Henwood said, “This is a significant decision for the NDA.

“The announcement signals the culmination of an extensive piece of work to devise a strategy for the long-term safe management of a huge volume of records dating back to the 1940’s.

“The archive to be built in Wick will be an extremely important national facility and I’m particularly pleased about the additional economic benefits that will come to the north of Scotland by placing the archive in Caithness.”

SNP MSP Richard Lochhead, Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and the Environment, said: “The announcement by the NDA to build the National Nuclear Archive in Wick is welcome.

“Not only will the archive deliver the infrastructure required for the NDA to manage its records safely, securely and efficiently but it will also create a number of sustainable quality jobs for the Caithness region.

Local MP John Thurso also welcomed the NDA’s decision to proceed with building the UK’s national archive in the north of Scotland.

He said: “The decision to start work on the National Nuclear Archive in Wick will be a big boost for the local economy during the construction phase and provide good jobs over the longer term.

“It is also an important facility around which complementary activity by The Highland Council and the Scottish Government could be planned. I warmly welcome the decision to proceed and commend the NDA for fulfilling their promise in these difficult economic times.”

Bob Earnshaw, chair of the Dounreay Stakeholder Group said, “The DSG has been involved with this project for a number of years and are really pleased with the announcement which outlines potential dates for the start of an extensive construction project as well as providing long-term jobs for the future.

“While the facility will ensure sustainable jobs it will also represent other unique opportunities for the area and we look forward to continuing to work with the NDA to ensure the benefit of siting the National Nuclear Archive in Wick are maximised.”

Highland Council leader Drew Hendry said: “When the initial decision was taken to establish the National Nuclear Archive in Wick, the Council saw this not only as a positive step forward in terms of creating high-value jobs and boosting the area’s economy, but also as an opportunity to establish a shared facility with the North Highland Archive, creating a unique asset for the north of Scotland and the UK.

“The Council’s role in identifying and providing land has been a key factor in bringing the project to Wick, and we look forward to working with the NDA to bring the project to fruition.”

http://www.scotsman.com/the-scotsman/scotland/plans-for-14m-nuclear-industry-archive-in-caithness-given-green-light-1-2690092

Contractor appointed for Highland Council offices

Urban Realm 12th February 2013

Construction and design firm Morgan Sindall has been appointed to build an £8m headquarters for Highland Council in Wick.

The scheme, drawn up by JM Architects, will see the existing listed council building, dating back to the 1860s, demolished to make way for 24,000sq/ft of contemporary office space. This will be arranged over three floors and incorporate the authority’s education, culture, social care and sport departments which are currently scattered throughout the town.

Clad in timber to the rear, with stone and glazing applied to the prominent frontage, the scheme will be dominated by a feature clock tower. The consolidation exercise will also incorporate the façade of the curved Stafford Place Buildings which adjoin the site and forms an integral part of Wick’s historic High Street.

David Sutherland, Project Manager at The Highland Council, said: “The development has been a long time in the planning and will deliver a state of the art facility for the Council to do its business with its customers, whilst ensuring efficient use of resources both in buildings and staff. The location is central to maintaining not only the viability of the town centre but also that of neighbouring businesses that depend on Council staff for much of their trade.”

The scheme is scheduled for completion in autumn 2014 and aims to achieve a BREEAM excellent rating.

http://www.urbanrealm.com/images/news/news_4000.jpg

http://www.urbanrealm.com/images/news/newspic_2754.jpg

^^

New office will replace this

Urban Realm (http://www.urbanrealm.com/news/4000/Contractor_appointed_for_Highland_Council_offices.html)