MEMBERS AREA
CASEWORK
Tayside & East Fife
Balfour Place, St Andrews, before alteration
St Andrews University Students’ Union
learly, I'm not the first to feel a lone voice crying in the
wilderness. Looking back over earlier reports almost
everything we opposed has come to pass.
In the St Andrews conservation area the Brutalist 1970s era
Students’ Union is currently being refaced with glass curtain walling,
the only concession being that multi-coloured fascia panels will not
now be used. At the foot of Westburn Lane, opposite the Bute
Medical Building, an array of three and four storey blocks of flats will
be built. We thought them too high and disruptive to the street
pattern.
Meanwhile, South Street will suffer a demolition at the Argos site
although the buildings to go are unexceptional and date to around
1970. At street level there will be little change and student-type
flats will be packed in behind the new facade.
In fact, our comments often result in an application being
considered by councillors, rather than officials, or lead to minor
concessions being made such as retaining pantiled dormers when
the architect wanted slate, for example at Balfour Place.
In Anstruther we opposed the display of wall-mounted banners
at the Fisheries Museum, on the grounds that they clashed with the
traditional rhythm of gables and walls. Permission was granted
anyway but we invite you to see what you think next time you
visit.
Near Collessie, where we supported local groups opposing yet
another sand and gravel quarry, the developer(Muir Aggregates)
has appealed. This is distressing for the residents of the hamlet of
C
44 I
THE ARCHITECTURAL HERITAGE SOCIETY OF SCOTLAND
I
AUTUMN 2013
Kinloch who have already endured years of uncertainty, even if the
quarry is refused in the end.
Unfortunately, despite a refusal, there is nothing to stop a
developer having another go. In St Andrews the building of a
nursery school in the long rig at 44 South Street was turned down
by the Reporter, unfortunately, for the wrong reason. Road safety
was the deciding factor, not the significance of the medieval garden.
The developer intends to reapply, this time using a different access
point. In practice this would simply shift the safety issue from a
relatively quiet street