planningarchitecture
Written 98 posts
National Development Management Forum
25th November 2015
Building networks, engaging with others, and sharing good practice were key themes at this year’s National Development Management Forum, which took place yesterday 24th November, 2015 at Scottish Government’s office Victoria Quay, Edinburgh. The event brought together 100 delegates from planning authorities, the private sector, the Agencies and central Government, to discuss and share ideas…
Scotland’s Towns Week…Celebrating Scotland’s towns
18th November 2015
This week marks Scotland towns week #STW15 – a celebration of Scottish towns centres and the people who work hard to protect them. And this month marks the second anniversary of the Town Centre Action Plan, the plan the Scottish Government published following the year long national review of town centres that concluded in…
Scottish Coal Task Force
17th November 2015
Surface coal mining is a significant and extensive land use across Scottish coalfields which extend from Fife in the east across the Lothians, North and South Lanarkshire to East Ayrshire in the south west. In 2013 when Scottish Coal and ATH folded, it soon became clear that there was insufficient bond money to restore many…
SAQP Awards 2015 … and the winner is
11th November 2015
Following welcoming remarks from John McNairney, Scottish Governments Chief Planner, Susie Stirling presented the certificates for the Government’s Designing Places Student Competition. The main part of the evening was the presentation of the record number of Awards and Commendations for 2015. Projects ranging from development on the ground through to good practice in planning enforcement were highlighted. …
Heat: Our biggest element of energy use
5th November 2015
Heat is at the core of Scotland’s energy system. It is the biggest element of our energy use (over 55%), and the largest source of our emissions (47%). The Scottish Government is committed to largely decarbonising our energy system by 2050, at an affordable price to consumers through maintaining and developing secure supplies of energy….
Drawing Places
29th October 2015
Pens were at the ready on 14th October for this year’s Drawing Places skills symposium. This was organised in advance of the Architecture and Design Scotland’s Place Challenge (Arbroath) which is being held this week to identify the issues challenging the role of town centres as sustainable places. The event was held at the Lighthouse,…
Independent Review of Planning – meet the Secretariat
28th October 2015
The independent panel appointed to undertake the review of Scottish planning met for the first time on 13 October 2015. Planning and Architecture Division are providing support to the panel throughout the process, and there was much for the Secretariat to prepare in advance of the panel meeting. The Secretariat comprises myself and Suzanne Stephen,…
Welcome to our new Planning and Architecture blog
8th October 2015
Feedback from our stakeholders told us that we needed more informal methods to communicate with them. We have responded to that by committing to a package of service improvements targeted at increasing our digital presence and improving communication. The creation of this blog is part of that wider package and colleagues will use it to regularly…