Sir Basil Spence
Event ID 567333
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Sir Basil Spence
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/567333
Building Notes
In the early 1960s it was announced that the eastern New Town area to the southeast of Princes Street in Edinburgh was to be designated as a Comprehensive Redevelopment Area. The Edinburgh Corporation invited developers to create regeneration plans for St James Square, Leith Street and Broughton Street. Spence initially became involved as consultant to the Taylor Woodrow Group. They were succeeded by the Hammerson Group of Companies whose architects were Russell Diplock Associates.
Archive Details
The manuscript material in the Sir Basil Spence Archive explains Spence's involvement with both the Taylor Woodrow Group and the Hammerson Group of Companies. The correspondence and project notes provide details of the main objectives behind the team's design. One of their primary goals was to 'preserve and enhance the existing aesthetic values of Edinburgh' and, for this reason, they ruled out the use of tall buildings as 'an egotistical temptation' which they felt would interrupt the skyline and destroy existing views across the city.
The manuscript material also shows that Spence was very much aware of the need to design a layout that was sympathetic to the needs of both the pedestrian and the motorcar. However, Russell Diplock Associates failure to adhere to the road layout suggested by the Corporation, was one of the reasons that they were unsuccessful in the competition.
Archive Summary
The Sir Basil Spence Archive holds one manuscript batch for this project, which contains correspondence and project notes. There is also a set of 13 drawings including site plans, plans, sections and perspectives of the proposed development.
This text was written as one of the outputs of the Sir Basil Spence Archive Project, supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund, 2005-08.
