Set Square - Scotland on Sunday Article

Our new building featured in a recent Scotland on Sunday magazine. If you can open the link below it starts on pages 10/11.

http://edition.pagesuite-professional.co.uk/launch.aspx?referral=other&refresh=Mw2016BtN0y8&PBID=84dcbc08-9250-425e-82db-88e74d37ad41&skip=

The article shows the completed house and describes some of the challenges of the build along the way. Sitting in the house now and typing this entry for the blog, I am amazed at how warm this house is. The heating is restricted to underfloor electric in the bathrooms and a wood burning stove. In the morning the temperature is around 19 deg C. With the fire on in the evenings for some extra warmth it easily reaches 22 deg C. It's seems impossible to get the heat out of this house and, in Scotland, that's no bad thing. Even when we were away for a long weekend the temperature only dropped to around 16 deg C. I can't tell you how wonderful it is to walk into a warm house like this. Of course it is all down to the insulation which is the best on the market. Structurally Insulated Panels or SIPs as they are called in the trade are not a new thing but they are not that extensively used and personally, I think they should be. It is more expensive to build using SIPs but you get more space inside as well as the high level of insulation. More space because there is no need for roof trusses as the panels are "structural" and can support the weight of the roof. So the walls and the steel frame support the roof. It just makes so much sense to build this way.
http://www.sipsindustries.com/sips/sips.php
Our build features on this web site under dometic builds.

The article mentions the help of friends during the construction. In particular one friend who owns Basically Tool Hire in Newbattle, Colin Cassidy, helped us on an almost daily basis for a while.
http://www.basically-toolhire.co.uk/

There were so many times when Colin came to the rescue, both with equipment and advice. Gerry now makes lunch for him whenever he can. It's the least we can do.

The other really clever feature of the house is the foundation pads. These are made by a company called Swift Foundations and Gerry and I first saw these at a home builders event in Glasgow. The technology came out of Stirling University if I remember correctly. It was what we had been looking for to be able to build in and around lots of tree roots without damaging the tree health. If you are interested in this foundation system you can read all about it here.
http://www.swiftfoundations.co.uk/swift_plinth.php


These pictures show the foundations in place on our site last summer. Note the obligatory fizzy juice bottles in the picture that come with every tradesperson on a building site.
Note the sitting out area that was kept over from the gazebo days. This was where all plans were discussed and copious amounts of tea supplied to the trades people. I should have taken out shares in tea and sugar last year!

Autumn Colours

The colours in Ironmills Park and the surrounding woodland are just stunning in Autumn. No point writing too much - here is the photographic evidence.

If you magnify this picture look at the stag horn fern -or Sumach- along the line of the balcony. Most of these plants were a gift from a neighbour in Ironmills Park last year and they have grown so well. I had some of my own as well but they had grown tall and leggy in a shady position. I cut them down by almost half and crossed my fingers that they wouldn't suffer. It worked OK so - if anyone is worried about cutting back Sumach, go for it. Cut back in Spring time. 

This is a picture of a plant called Enkianthus. The photo doesn't do it justice. It has good autumn colour for a long time. Outdoing my Acer trees which lost a lot of the lovely red leaves last week in the windy weather.

The large Beech tree at the roof of the house.

 A favourite plant called Oak Leaf Hydrangea. I would love to get more of these but can't seem to track them down at any garden centre. They keep their white flowers for ages.

A nice pic of my better half and the view of the Park. Magnify it to appreciate.

Ironmills Park in all its glory

Proof That Land Was Advertised For Sale

On an earlier blog I recorded why we managed to become owners of a woodland. Even although no-one else was particularly interested in owning the ground it does seem to be a concern that it was not advertised for sale.

It was year 2000 and I had representation from a few people at the time therefore some people knew about the potential sale. Here are 2 articles that appeared in the local newspaper at the time.

This year the Eskbank Amenity Society sent an 8 page letter to Midlothian Council regarding the sale of the land and other concerns. Here is the councils' response to the specific Q's on the land sale.

There were eight specific questions on the first page of your letter, to which I can

offer the following responses:

1. "Why was the disposal of this specific public asset, decided by MC Estates

Department"?

The sale of the land was approved by the Council's Policy and Resources

Committee on 2 May 2000.

2. "What legislation and localgovemment policies govemed MC sale of public

assets at that time? (1999-2000)"

The Local Government Scotland Acts.

3. "How did Midtothian residents benefit from this specific disposal?"

The Midlothian residents benefitted indirectly by the capital receipt and

removal of the maintenance liability. Not all Council property is sold on the

open market. Frequently individuals or businesses approach the Council to

purchase land which adjoins their own property. In such cases where there is

no obvious other interested party, and following advice from the Council's

Estates officers, the Council, if appropriate, will proceed to dispose of the site.

Such an approach obviates the need for abortive marketing costs to be

incurred.

4. "What process of competitive tendering/open competition was in place for the

Please note response at 3 above.

5. "Was the sale af the land publicly advertised?"
Please note response at 3 above. 

6. "lf there was no open process of publicly advertising the sale and achieving

competitive bids for the land, why not?"

Please note response at 3 above.

7. "How was the purchase price determined?"

The valuation was based on comparative garden ground.

8. "Given this precedent, are all areas of the North Esk River Valley Woodlands

considered to be disposable MC assets?"
No

 
Well that answers everything I think.

Just for the record, the ground that we originally wanted to purchase was very much less than we eventually bought. Asking for a small parcel of land brought no response from the council in almost 2 years between 1998 and 2000. Taking a bigger area and taking over responsibility was the answer.
The area of ground that we took ownership of is 0.519 hectares. If you happen to read the MC planning files on our build project you would see a letter from a local person claiming that we own 5.53 acres. Now I don't think these 2 figures are equivalent and I have checked an internet conversion site.
Answer: 0.519 hec = 1.28247 acre

I can understand local concerns regarding the areas along the whole of the North River Esk - I wouldn't want to see mass development. But a little perspective is perhaps required. This is a small build on an area that was garden ground adjoining a woodland. It is bordered by a very ugly metal fence which we have now covered with wood. There is a precipitous corner that was dangerous to the public and where water run off continues to be an issue. I have every intention of making the landscape even more beautiful. Trees have been removed - with approval - and opening up the woodland has been a benefit. Lots more trees and understorey plants have been planted than have been removed. Protection has been put on new planting to prevent deer damage. Ivy has been removed selectively and retained as well. The plan is to improve the overall appearance in the long run. It does take time. I have not planted non native species on the woodland bank and I try to use sympathetic species to blend from garden to woodland. I love bamboo - its not native I know - its not on the bank and where it is planted it will not become invasive. I am happy to take advice and remove plants if someone can spell out the risk in clear and meaningful terms.

If you didn't see it - the Scotland on Sunday ran an article on the house build yesterday. Pictures were not great due to the time of year and horrible weather on the day but the article is a good one. I'll try and post a copy next time.

10 years to plan, 10 months to build

A wooden house in a woodland. The Planning Story.
When we bought a water tower my mum was living on her own in Moredun. What about living next door to us in the cottage? we asked, but she declined. Maybe it was just as well. But as time progressed we thought about building on the site of the cottage drying green and submitted a tentative outline application in 1996 as a possible home for my mum. Not enough detail and insufficient space to build, came back the reply along with the usual host of policy references. We tend not to accept negatives Gerry and I so we explored further. A lack of detail we could understand but not enough space was a strange one. Surely that was up to us to make the build fit into the exisiting space? Out of the blue a senior officer in the council asked if we would like to adopt the road? this was equally strange. Why would we want to adopt a road? We put everything on ice and had a re think. We put up  wooden garden gazebo (approved in 1998)  instead but that's another story. Gerry is tenacious in the extreme and set about discussing plans with architect colleagues and getting the detail worked out for a proper building. This was post Masterchef days and we had been to the USA on a trip to explore food in the States and along the way we marvelled at some extraordinary buildings created by an architect called Mickey Meunnig in California. Making use of sloped sites and using cortain steel and timber, this architect creates some amazing buildings that are sympathetic to environments that are largely un touched. With the help of Oberlander Architects and also Ricky Hall Architect we decided on a scheme that ticked all the boxes for us. We had a lot of discussion with the planners and had encouraging noises from Suzanne McIntosh in the planning office. A main build plus 3 pod structures on the slope behind close to the tennis club fence; giving us living accomodation, 2 spare rooms for visitors and a painting studio for Gerry. The application was submiited in 2004 and then we went off on a 12 month sabattical as a belated celebration of Gerry's 50th birthday. The restaurant had been running for 10 years and I had been working full time for 26 years.With no children it was relatively easy to do the trip.


For some reason the application just sat in the planning department. We heard nothing and sent e mails to ask why. Since we were enjoying the trip so much it was less important but none-the-less annoying that a planning application could take this long. Then we received a notification that the local community council had raised objections. These objections were fair - relating to access to the cemetery for example - but the pre cursor note was interesting "this application is about to be approved and the community council......." How could the community council know it was about to be approved? we knew nothing.
Returning home in 2005 it was clear that there had been a great deal of discussion about our planning application with more unfounded rumour than actual fact being discussed. We were building at the rivers edge and we were building a guest house and restaurant. So much so that when the application was refused the local newspaper described it as Water Tower Guest House Plan Refused. In fact the planning department had modified the title of our application in its correspondance and this was the source of the erroneous title. When went to appeal we were awarded fair compensation for this error.


We felt very aggrieved for a myriad of reasons but in particular the length of time to process the application and the rumours. We discussed our plans with the senior planning development officer Mr Clive Christopherson - we got into parking, breaking walls to create holes, enhancing conservation area, getting bin lorries in, privacy and amenity etc etc- and all in the wider context of a new development that was being built on the other side of the tower that ticked none of these boxes. Ah but every application is treated on its own merits and one must not use another to argue for your own. Mr Christopherson drove us to distraction and when he actually said (and this is minuted and accepted)


 "I will personally never allow you to build on that ground"

we knew that there was something wrong. Surely it wasn't the personal opinion of 1 person. We took our application to appeal and although it was turned down because the design was too exotic for the quiet corner of Eskbank, we established the principle to build and this raised our spirits. I had almost given up and although keen to fight for the compensation and to prove the injustices, I was no longer intertested in building at all. Gerry is different!


Around 2005/6 we started on alternative plans bouyed by the reporters views. We sought help from Kirsty Towler, a planning advisor and now good friend that we knew from the days of renovating the tower. We desiged a sympathtic building looking very much like an overgrown version of the gazebo. We were going to try to keep the gazebo but there simply was not enough available space to do it all. Gerry had plans drawn up by David Paton and he also produced a water colour impression of the build set within its woodland surround. New local plan policies were emerging and RP9 was a draft policy for the protection of river banks. Our ground would be impacted by RP9 but we saw no reason why the build would harm the area in visual or physical terms. I am not a planner but this subject is more an art rather than a science. We embarked on a positive relationship with the planners and were encouraged by this. They were professional and encouraging although not able to confirm that it would be approved. It would have to be assessed. We gambled with the parking regulations. Not wanting to knock a hole in a beautiful wall we chose not to have car parking on the site knowing that this could give a reason for refusal. We debated long and hard on this one between ourselves but stuck to our principles. We received permission for our build. Oh Joy.


Then the disabled access regulations kicked in. We modified our plan and this was also approved. But the local frustration at this stage was palpable. To the extent that our achitect David Paton was contacted by the secretary of the local Amenity Society and asked if the plans could be modified to restrict the size of the build and even suggested an alternative disabled access that would require a gap in the wall and cutting through the tree roots of the most significant Sycamore tree on the streetscape. 

Policy RP9 was quoted at us time and time again - mainly by a few members of the committee of the Amenity Society. I looked it up and researched it.

Policy RP9 Protection of River Valleys states that development within the river valley will be permitted where there is a specific locational need for the development, and if so then the development must not have any adverse impact on the landscape and conservation value of the valleys, or impede potential public access opportunities.

I couldn't understand the concern about RP9 - this build would have no adverse impact on the landscape but I suppose that was only our opinion. I will leave blog readers to decide themselves and next weeks Scotland on Sunday magazine will show pictures and tell the story in a much better way than I can. One key aspect of the build is the clever foundation system that ensures the protection of tree roots. More on that when I get Gerry to write up some of the technical detail of the build.

One interesting point from the RP9 policy; public access opportunities must not be impeded. This challenge was thrown at us around year 2000. Any path on our ground was previously a short cut and did not connect 2 public places. In other words - no right of way existed. Many attempts were made to thwart this fact. At one point this year we were accused of blocking the actual public footpath and steps linking Cemetery Road and Ironmills park. Sane and clever people believed this! Remember we were asked to adopt Cemetery Road in 1996. I wonder?

Perhaps it was the extent of the local grievance that really affected us more than anything. It seemed dis proportionate against all the other good stuff that we had done in the area. We then realised that a substantial number of people who were members of the Amenity Society were unaware of the actions and communications made by their committee. We wanted to continue to live in Dalkeith and Eskbank (The tower is located in Dalkeith but the new build is situated in Eskbank despite being a stones throw from the tower) and it was good to know that not all 100+ members shared the views of the committee. The extent of the concerened few marched on and although I had joined the community council for Eskbank some people believed I shouldn't be allowed to be a member because I didn't have a registered address in Eskbank at the time. How sad.

We decided to call our new build RP9 and I'm sure you can understand why. The project management files are all  labelled RP9 and we discretely branded our wooden gate posts with RP9. It felt right because we believe we are protecting the river bank.

I'll get back to woodland issues next time I promise. I apologise for this rant on planning and local complaints but would like to stress that in recent years the planning department in Midlothian have been highly professional and a delight to work with. We have received sound advice and guidance from Kingsley Drinkwater and equally sound advice and guidance from the tree officer Ellen Krog-McCallman. I know we tested them both! I do hope they understand.

RP9 in its setting at various times of the year.

No magnification - to appreciate the over all setting

That view from the bridge - see earlier blog entries for the same area from a different era.

It looks really lovely at night......

Spot the RP9 name on the post

To the right of RP9 our wooden sitting out area and store

How it looks from Cemetery Road

Winter wonderland with all exposed

The Oxford Gargoyles in August this year - performing for our friends. A truly one off event for us at the time but what a great way to complete a house build project.

That wood pile as it is now, starting to soften into the environment.

Matin Khan Wins Award

Just a quick entry to record that Matin Khan won the Bangladeshi restaurant award in London last night. Nothing to do with a woodland but I couldn't resist writing this on the blog site. Matin's restaurant is called Itihaas and it is in Dalkeith. Go there before it gets too busy.

http://www.itihaasrestaurant.com/

Event to Celebrate 100 years of Ironmills Park below Woodland

During the construction phase of our house at the edge of the woodland last year, I met a lot of local doggie walkers and passers-by on a regular basis. It was really interesting to get to know my neighbours and people who used the Park regularly. John Holden from Eskbank and a fellow community councillor alerted me in October to the forthcoming anniversary for the park. Nov 29^th 2009 marked 100 years since the Duke of Buccleuch gifted the park to the people of Dalkeith.

I was busy but thought I could manage to arrange something for the occasion. Maybe a tea party I thought? But how, when, who and what could I do in a short time. I started with the current Duke of Buccleuch via Cameron Manson who works on the Buccleuch Estates. I penned a hand written letter to His Grace (this is his correct title) asking if he was aware of the forthcoming event and would he like to become involved. I had a lovely letter back stating he was delighted to receive my letter but unfortunately his grace was not available on the suggested date. Never mind, Cameron would represent him and so that was the first step. I contacted the local history society and talked to people in the area. I was given Rae McGee’s name, she does historical story telling and I contacted her. Sadly another key player was not available but....she suggested a fellow colleague Jim Aird. Jim was available. Wonderful.

The Dalkeith history society were interested and I received a copy from the archives of a publication called “The Buccleuch Golden Wedding” / “The Duke’s Gift To Dalkeith”.

Describing the event of their golden wedding in 1909, the publication describes the joy and frivolity of the time. The section titled Gift Of Public Park to Dalkeith records that the town leased the park from the Duke and he thought to convert this lease into a deed of gift which might meet with the approbation of its fellow citizens. Provost Tod at the time stated that the gift took his breath away. I do hope he meant metaphorically. It’s a difficult publication to read due to print quality and style of writing but I persevered and read through it. In the past David Smith, the well known ex provost of Dalkeith, had written a summary of the history of the water tower and I recognised some of the information. In particular, that the documented history of Dalkeith town goes as far back as the 14^th Century. Here is my interpratation (in brackets) of one section from the publication.

Dalkeith had a wonderful volume of trade and it was commensurate with other successful towns in regard to trade, situation and beautiful surrounds. It is an old town but not an old Burgh. Burgh status came about by setting up a group of trustees and in changing times the trustees wanted more power and hence the town council came into being (someone on the committee of trustees rocked the boat, threw the toys out of the pram and a compromise was reached by agreeing to re structure into a town council). The town changed slowly with improvements to its roads and footpaths and then there was more rapid change (the trustees did their bit early on in getting the roads fixed but the bigger picture was to make the town more viable and recent changes went ahead without consultation).  It now had a public park which in 1909 had been turned from leasehold into a permanent holding (the park was up for grabs, the Duke was willing to give it away and get rid of a liability and headache and the people of Dalkeith could have it). Its water supply, which at one time was very doubtful, was now in first rate working order - “Question” and laughter (the water tower was supposed to fix the problem of a clean water supply to Dalkeith but it didn’t, the only people who benefited were the residents in Eskbank because they had ground floor bathrooms, but even they were receiving water that tasted funny). I can make this last comment with some conviction because the water tower history taught me that the supply from the tower was fraught with problems. I  dare not start on the water tower now or you will be bored reading it. Next time.

Getting back to the event in the Park. Having secured a historical walk and talk and knowing that Cameron would be highly entertaining, I thought – food! Everyone will come if there is free food. Gerry offered to do BBQ but it was November and the weather could be poor. I know Matin Khan of Itihaas restaurant in Dalkeith and thought some hot pakora’s would be a good idea, especially in a paper bag in the way I used to have hot food in the school playground on a cold day. The ultimate illiteration emerged, Pakora in a Poke in the Park. Someone said to me they dreamt of a poke in the park but that’s another story. I made up an invite, used a lot of coloured ink and suddenly appreciated the benefit of my old job when I could make colour prints foc. I sent it out to local residents, 2 Rotary groups, History Society, Duke of Buccleuch and the 2 Community Councils in Dalkeith and Eskbank.  I knew that these groups included people who sat on other local groups and clubs such as the Amenity Society and the local Rugby and Tennis Club but with hindsight, I should have invited these groups as well. All comes down to that colour ink cost and anyone who has ever done this type of thing before will know that you make drafts and want to print them.

So that was it – food, chat and a walk in the park. Eighty people turned up on a bitterly cold day and I had a book for people to register their comments. The local squeak recorded the event and best of all, the town council gifted 6 trees to mark the event. Margot Russell and James Kinch worked on this with the council landscape architect who identified the best trees. I can record – silver maple, purple sycamore, turkey oak, London plane, pin oak and Turkish hazel were planted and a commemorative plaque was laid beside one tree. These trees are not native to the woodland above the park but they are complimentary park species trees and I can tell you they look wonderful.

The plaque

And so it goes full circle; when the Duke gifted the Park, the people were delighted. 100 years on, I and many others were delighted to have 6 more lovely trees in the park. I’ll photograph them soon because they were selected for the autumnal colours and it won’t be long before the whole park is bursting with the autumn colours.

Some comments from the record book on the day of the event –

 Ann and Fethi Kmicha, spent many happy days in this park.

Janet and Linda – the 2 women you met 2 weeks ago looking for the squirrel and ending up having a blether for 20 minutes. This was interesting would love to do it again.

Mansa Tulloch – Good informative talks. Good pakora too.

Jack Clyne – As I was born in No 3 Ironmills Cottage 60 years ago it was a nice trip down memory lane.

Julie Davis – a most interesting way to spend a cold wet pm, well done and thank you.

Peter and Gladys Kidd – very interesting, look forward to future announcements

Susan Murray nee Nicol – happy memories of 25 years living in the park.

Copy of the local squeak article. If you click on it you might be able to read the text. I'm at the back in pink wellies (just realised the photo is in B&W oops - look for one trouser leg up and one trouser leg down instead), behind Cameron in full flow. The article mentions a repeat event and establishing a Friends of Ironmills Park Group. 

Sadly attempts to formalise a friends of the park group have not yet come to fruition and hence there has been no repeat event so far. Hopefully a group will eventually emerge. It is hard to get these groups off the ground and to make sure they are democratic and inclusive. Attempts so far remind me far too much of running the PQMT meetings in my old job! I can’t remember what PQMT stands for but that might be a good thing.

I'll document the results of the meetings to get a friends group off the ground because there was some good stuff produced by way of a plan and mission statement. It would be a shame to lose these if someone else takes up the cudgel and I would like the information to be used if possible. Once again, more to follow. Beginning to wonder if I should write a book? Oh and next time someone asks me what I have done since I stopped working? I'm just going to say its a long story.

Off to plant my tree purchases from yesterday and there will be a gap for a while as I get some real work done and take a wee trip to London to celebrate Matin Khan's possible award for best Indian Restaurant.

Susan

Purchases Today

Its Monday 4th October and I had lunch at Dobbies with 2 girl friends from my ex place of work, Alison and Moira. Next door to Dobbies is R&B Nurseries http://www.rbnursery.co.uk/
This is the place to go for plants if you need lots. You need to have an account with them. Today I ordered trees - 6 silver birch ( Betula pendula), 1 ash (Fraxinus excelsior) and 1 alder (Alnus glutinosa). Also some Amelanchier or June Berry shrubs; some of my favourite ferns, Osmnunda regalis or Royal fern and I bought a load of bulbs at Dobbies as well - mainly crocus and alliums. That will keep me planting for the next couple of weeks. I'll take the camera and record the site for the new trees before and after. Its a difficult site with the steep slope but once I get in there I forget the time of day and never need lunch.

I also learned today of a time when the tennis courts caved in to a hole in the ground big enough to take a car. This further raises my concerns about water management. If anyone reading this blog remembers this event please get in touch. My e mail is mailto:susangoldwyre@yahoo.co.uk