All News

Our June 2024 Newsflash contains a great range of items from our members and contributors to highlight the current influences on the Dundee urban scene.

The funding threat hanging over the Mills Observatory is one story; but on a more positive note you can read about the concept of Wee Forests in Dundee and the success that is Dundee Design Festival.

We hear about the recent High Street Summit facilitated by the Courier, of interest to anyone who cares about the fate of our central business district.

It was Steve Coogan’s alter ego Alan Partridge who famously objected to the pedestrianisation of Norwich city centre; but did that hapless comedy character have a point? One of our contributors makes a thought-provoking case for ‘dialling back’ on the practice of eliminating vehicles from central streets.

All this and much more: read it here.

With decontamination work already underway at the former gas works site on East Dock Street, Dundee City Council unanimously approved the Eden Project planning application on 17 June.

The Civic Trust utilised its position as a statutory consultee by making a deputation to the council. We are clear in our support for Eden Project Dundee and our statement to the councillors welcomed this bold and ambitious project, which contains contains potentially transformative developments. There is much to be commended in the exciting and thoughtful design proposals.

In terms of regeneration and sustainability, however, we believe there is a lack of ambition. Given the environmental credentials of the development, it ought to aim for Net Zero carbon as a primary objective, employing Passivhaus Premium principles and accepted targets for embodied carbon.

The basic approach to energy use is commendable, but we feel this is also rather unambitious. Eden should strive for greater energy self-sufficiency to help address the climate emergency. Additional means can be employed, including: more PV panels on the slope at Peep o’ Day Lane and elsewhere; vertical wind turbines; battery storage; and cooperating with future-technology energy companies to demonstrate that Eden is in the forefront of developments and design for self-sufficiency in energy.

Our main concerns, however, are about access to the site, which lies largely within the council’s responsibility to address and coordinate.

Private car travel (estimated to be 62% of visitors) is to discouraged, but it is not explained how this goal will be met. There will be congestion. Dropping off arrangements at Peep o’ Day Lane will need to be improved.

The provision of public transport will require robust arrangements with all travel providers for pricing, bus turning and parking, and Active Travel routes.

The dilapidated and unwelcoming condition of Seagate is worrying, as this will be much used by visitors.

The bridge over the road and railway line is a vital requirement from the opening date, to provide an appropriate statement entrance, as well as opening up the dock area. Access to it from the centre must be carefully planned to encourage visitors to use that route.

Foundry Lane is an obvious access point but significant issues of upgrading, access to buildings and traffic use must be addressed.

Peep o’ Day Lane may suit visitors from the north of the city, but with a steep path it is not wholly suitable for disabled drop off, arriving from the city centre, or for cycle access.

East Dock Street is wholly unsuitable for access, as it will be congested, noisy, cramped, dangerous and dirty, and not susceptible to upgrading. We are at a loss to understand why this is being proposed as a major pedestrian access route.

The Access Routes proposed for the Eden Project present major obstacles that must be resolved before the project is opened to the public.  It is the council’s responsibility to resolve these, in partnership with the Eden Project team and other stakeholders.

We have urged councillors to ensure that their officers are obliged to fully resolve these access issues prior to the start of the Eden Project on site.

We regret to report the death of longtime supporter of the Trust, Dr Nutan Subedi.  Nutan served on the Board of the Trust for many years, including as Chairman from 2012–2015.  He brought a new perspective to the work of the Trust and gave us valuable insights and knowledge through his expertise as a structural engineer.  As with everything else he did, he excelled as chairman of the Trust with his calm demeanour and his ability to involve others.

He was appointed to a lectureship in the Department of Civil Engineering at Dundee University in 1980 and retired as Reader, a promotion gained from excellent research work into the structural behaviour of shear walls in tall reinforced concrete structures as well as earthquake analysis. He published a wealth of papers in his field of research.  He was also a respected lecturer and always willing to help his students.

Nutan had a wide range of interests and brought to the attention of Dundee citizens the research he carried out on the work of the great City Architect and Engineer James Thomson and his plans for the City.

We send our sincere condolences to Andrea and their daughters Julia and Caroline.

Dundee Civic Trust has considered the planning application in principle (24/00096/PPPM) for construction of a new football stadium and other works at Camperdown.

We recommend the application be refused in that the proposals are unacceptable, particularly in context of the following points:

• the planning requirements of the national planning framework (NPF4) and the local development plan (LDP2);
• traffic safety and congestion;
• the unsuitable siting of the hotel, crematorium and residential development;
• the unambitious plans for renewable and sustainable energy;
• the use of part of Camperdown Park.

You can read our detailed response here.

Dundee Civic Trust has a deep interest in the development of convivial 20 minute neighbourhoods in our city – but what do these places really look like and how do they work? What are the opportunities and barriers involved?  Come and find out at the V&A on Friday 19 April 2024. This event has been organised by Dr Husam AlWaer from the University of Dundee and the Urban Design Group.

More information about the event can be found here.

A much anticipated planning application in principle has now been submitted by Dark Blue Property Holdings Limited for the development of a new Dundee FC football stadium at Camperdown Leisure Park, west of the Dundee Ice Arena.

While part of the planned complex encroaches upon the southern part of Camperdown Park, much of the site takes up what were once the National Cash Register recreation grounds (pictured). The remains of the bowling green and tennis courts may still be seen.

See application reference 24/00096/PPPM on the Dundee City Council website.

In addition to the main stadium the application proposes training facilities and pitches, along with other mixed uses. These include housing and apartments, a hotel with ground floor commercial accommodation, a restaurant and an extension to the ice arena, together with new access roads (including a new access/exit from Kingsway West), parking and associated landscaping and engineering works.

The Trust will be scrutinising these revised proposals closely, having previously expressed concerns regarding the access and traffic implications; and the impact of the associated commercial and housing uses on existing district centres and on Camperdown Park.

Comments to the Council have to be submitted by Sunday 24 March.

Our latest packed edition features our detailed responses to the Eden Project planning application and Dundee City Council’s Sustainable Transport Delivery Plan, along with much else.

Open this page and read all about it by clicking here.

The Civic Trust has lodged a detailed response to Dundee City Council in respect of the planning application for the Eden Project (reference 23/00814/FULM).

Our overall view of the proposals is, understandably, positive and supportive. Most of our concerns rest in the areas of transportation and accessibility of the site. A number of issues will need to be ironed out to prevent avoidable difficulties.

You can read our submission here. Our thoughts on the planning application (in principle) for a pedestrian and active travel bridge spanning East Dock Street and the railway can be seen here.

We note an application to redevelop the site of the former drill hall on the north-west corner of Douglas Street and Brown Street.

The existing two-storey building was, according to the inscription on its south gable, built in 1909 for the City of Dundee Territorial Force. It survived as a Territorial Army Centre up to the 1960s, before becoming business premises and latterly a nightclub. While unlisted, the building falls within the Blackness Conservation Area and special consent for its demolition is required.

The proposed replacement is a seven-storey building housing 63 affordable flats and ground floor workshops. The design appears to be unremarkable, apart from a plan to save and incorporate five small architectural features from the original building in the south and east elevations.

Planning references are 23/00852/FULM for the new development; and 23/00853/CON for demolition in a Conservation Area.

Comments can be submitted to Dundee City Council until 26 January.