Forth Corinthian Yacht Club, Granton, Development, News, Pier, Dock
Granton Harbour : Edinburgh Yacht Club
Forth Yacht Club, Edinburgh, Scotland
27 Aug 2001
Forth Corinthian Yacht Club
Text received from Graham Russell, Forth Corinthian Yacht Club member:
about ‘imminent plans for Granton harbour that might have serious implications for the future of maritime activities in the area‘.
Edinburgh Architecture is a forum for various views: views expressed below are not the opinion of this site
Architects: Cooper Cromar Architects
27th August 2001
GRANTON HARBOUR CENTRICA HQ
Forth Ports have submitted an application for a three-storey call centre with basement parking (!) on the Middle Pier together with widening of the existing pier structure (to the west) and upgrading of the access road all the way to Granton Square. The plans have been given number 3232 but have not been registered yet. If they are complete there is a chance they will be registered today and advertised in the Evening News from when there will be three weeks to object.The outline map does not include the gunpowder store or a narrow strip to the pilots’ building but basically goes from the Coastguard office almost to the end of the pier and a large extension into the water on the west side of the pier.
The following impacts are possible:
1. Forth Corinthian Yacht Club evicted from their yards (this has been on the cards for some time) and reduced access to slips for FCYC dinghies, tenders and trailer sailers.
2. Port o’ Leith evicted from winter storage.
3. No possibility of lifting boats out of the water at Granton except from the Royal Forth Yard
4. No space for parking and associated trailers, caravans etc for East Coast week.
5. No possibility of attracting the larger events that a properly maintained harbour would attract
6. Poorer access to the marina.
7. Compromising the viability of a marina in the West harbour, reducing the area still further.
8. Leaving little room for a dredger to tie up at low water.
9. Intensification of the back eddy of wind and the eddies shed by the existing shed.
10. Reduced access for local people.
The project is entitled Scottish Gas Hq or Granton Harbour Centrica HQ. Centrica used to be British Gas. Does anyone have contacts there who can provide some detail? Does Centrica support yachting? If so, we have some leverage. Does anyone know the health and safety implications of removing the asbestos roofing from the shed on the Middle Pier? Does anyone have details of the construction of the Middle Pier? Can anyone with good contacts in the Insurance industry find out what design criteria a building on the Middle Pier would have to meet in order to be insurable? I am thinking here of risk of inundation from sea level rise.
Let’s hope I am being pessimistic. Done properly with due regard to the implications for sailing (and I note the recent RYA policy document identifying the risk of loss of yachting facilities to insensitive development) an office block on the Middle Pier could provide benefits such as improved security and an upgraded pier with ladders and secure bollards. It would also fit in with the plans to rejuvenate Granton through the Waterfront Plan. I have been impressed with the way in which extensive rebuilding of the piers at Amble in Northumberland has benefited both visitors and local businesses.
However, recent trends for partnerships with the local community and other stakeholders, inclusion and discussion are noticeable by their absence at Granton and past experience does not gives grounds for optimism. By the way, after almost two years Forth Ports have still not submitted a complete retrospective planning application for the building rubble they dumped in the West harbour, much of which is now in the deep water part of the West Harbour and threatening to contaminate the Special Protection Area for birds in the East Harbour.
Forth Ports
Scottish Architects of the past
Buildings / photos for the Forth Corinthian Yacht Club Granton page welcome
Forth Corinthian Yacht Club Building : page