Agnes Jones

We had a successful community engagement event on River Street in Ayr yesterday discussing how to improve the routes people use to get into the town centre. To add your comments please go to https://accessibleayrmap.commonplace.is/about

TGP Are in the March edition of ProLandscaper magazine with an article about the Rainbow Garden we designed in Aberdeen recently.

TGP are delighted that the Cairngorms National Park Authority (CNPA) has granted planning permission for a new whisky distillery at a site just off the A95 on the outskirts of Grantown-on-Spey.  The approval covers a new distillery, visitor centre, warehouse and associated infrastructure and is being built by Gordon & MacPhail, who own Benromach Distillery at Forres.

TGP worked in collaboration with ITP Energised, Norr Architects and Cundall to prepare a landscape masterplan and Landscape and Visual Impact Assessment (LVIA) for the project.

TGP engaged with the landscape adviser early on in the design process and CNPA planning committee convener Eleanor Mackintosh said: “I congratulate the applicant on a thorough and well-presented application. This is a major development for the area and this will be the first malt whisky distillery to be approved by the Cairngorms National Park Authority since it was established in 2003.”

The design approach focused on delivery of a natural aesthetic, incorporating native woodland and parkland-style tree planting in combination with native wildflower meadow and marginal wetland areas to enhance existing habitats within the Site and exert a positive, lasting impact on the character of the surrounding Spey valley. The LVIA took cognisance of the sensitivity of the local landscape in the assessment of potential effects on the Special Landscape Qualities (SLQs) of the National Park, as well as those on the visual amenity of local residents and visitors.

The TGP offices had a great trip to Sheffield last week. The trip started with a brilliant tour around the Grey to Green project rain gardens by Sue France from Green Estate and Duncan Bradbury from Sheffield Council. There had been a huge amount of rain so it was great to see them coping so well, and exciting to see stage two in development. Sheffield has a lot of other interesting public space which we had the chance to explore, before taking a walk around Yorkshire Sculpture Park.

A really diverse range of topics and speakers at this year’s RTPI Scottish Conference at the Emirates in Glasgow last week, in particular the presentations by Brian Evans – Embedding Place into Glasgow City and Giulia Vallone (Senior Architect, Cork County Council) Re-inhabiting the streets: learning from Clonakilty were very interesting. The site walk and tour of the Commonwealth Games Athletes’ Village and Cuningar Loop was excellent, complete with bright Glasgow sunshine.

We have been out and about collecting opinions on the Glasgow Avenues designs for North Hanover Street with Civic Engineers and Icecream Architecture. If you missed us, please visit www.glasgow.gov.uk/avenues to see the plans and have your say, the deadline for comment is Sunday 18 August 2019. You can also read about the project in the Evening Times here.

The Avenues project is funded by Glasgow City Region City Deal and will involve the redesigning of key streets in the city centre to prioritise space for cyclists and pedestrians, improve public transportation accommodation, improve connectivity and increase green infrastructure.