Edinburgh Park

Shifting light, Changing skies

Edinburgh Park is a business park to the west of Edinburgh originally envisaged by Richard Meyer and developed in the 1990’s. It was serviced as a car dependent infrastructure. The arrival of the tramline and two railway stations in the early 2000s significantly changed the opportunities of the area. With a close connection to the tramway the site has opportunity become a hub, buzzing with activity and providing a chance for to become a destination in between the city centre and the airport. Peter Millican acquired a 43 acres undeveloped site situated adjacent to Edinburgh Business Park to the north, the City Bypass to the west and the Edinburgh-Glasgow railway line to the south in 2013 through his company Parabola and spent six years creating a masterplan consisting of offices, housing, hotels, sport facilities and art.  The goal was to create a new sustainable urban quarter and creative campus. According to Peter Millican: ‘There is perhaps no better city than Edinburgh to demonstrate what can be achieved with a successful master plan – the design and impact of the New Town have inspired town planners the world over, not only in scale and beauty but its ambition to improve the life of its citizens’. The design of Edinburgh Park can e regarded as the long overdue next instalment and a new chapter to redefine Edinburgh Urban Fringe. The public realm supported by public transport, lies at the heart of the aspiration to create a place for people at Edinburgh Park. The landscape and public realm will create an integrated network of open space which will provide a vibrant place for a spectrum of public activities and allow for a creative synergy of living, working and culture. The public realm composed of a network of residential boulevards, green squares, park, courtyards will promote opportunities for both active and passive recreation, productive landscape, biodiversity and cultural entertainment framed by an iconic skyline. For inspiration the client and design team looked further afield and travelled to Zurich, Basel and Amsterdam. The resulting townscape is based on clear typologies such as street, courts and gardens and the built form frames a clear spatial definition between public spaces and communal gardens to foster a sense of community and intimacy. Careful attention has been placed upon orientation, optimizing view lines and aspects regarding sunlight and wind conditions. Tree planting along the north-south tramline and east west streetscape creates a distinctive cross with provides the spatial framework for the entire development.  The green cross offer generous linear public spaces accompanied by walkways and cycle lanes. In between the various building plots, a series of interconnected spaces creates communal places or play, sport and relaxation.

The first built phase consists of an award winning AHMM designed office building which incorporates an array of social spaces including a café, restaurant, music venue and auditorium. GROSS.MAX. designed Civic Square integrated with communal garden and sport court. The natural stone paving of the square is inspired by Tartan. a newly designed public space with waterfront seating, steps, cascade and wetland garden creates a transition to the series of ‘lochans’ of the existing Edinburgh Business Park. Artworks include bronze sculpturers by William Tucket, Bruce Beasly and Eduardo Paolozzi.  The New Park Suare development won an Architects Journal Award and one of the comments of the judges stated that the connection between the building’s interior and the outdoor and green spaces ‘was really beautifully done’ with a manner and simplicity that made it easy to connect’.