Tag: Edinburgh

Tributes after leading architect Gareth Hoskins dies aged 48



  • TRIBUTES have been paid to the Scottish architect Gareth Hoskins, who died at the weekend aged 48.
  • Scottish architecture is much the lesser with his parting.”

    Fiona Hyslop, Cabinet Secretary for Culture, Europe and External Affairs, said: “Gareth Hoskins was an outstanding architect.

  • She tweeted: “Very sad to hear of the death of Gareth Hoskins, one of Scotland’s finest architects.
  • Hoskins trained as an architect at the Glasgow School of Art and at Florence University.
  • Hoskins Architects issued a statement confirming his death, adding: “It is with great sadness that we confirm that Gareth Hoskins OBE, the founder and Managing Director of Hoskins Architects, has died.

    “Gareth, who was 48, took ill at an event in Edinburgh on Sunday 3rd January and, despite receiving the best care possible in Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, he passed away on Saturday.

    “Everyone at Hoskins Architects is deeply shocked and saddened by this untimely loss.


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Graham Construction secures £6.3m contract on Higgs centre



  • The Higgs Centre for Innovation will be built at the Royal Observatory in the city.
  • HILLSBOROUGH based building firm Graham Construction has secured a £6.3 million to build a space centre in Edinburgh named after renowned particle scientist Peter Higgs.
  • The space centre is just the latest in Scotland.
  • The new Higgs centre in Edinburgh will focus on space and big data technologies and the whole scheme will cost £12m when fitting out is complete.
  • Last month, Graham completed a £10m primary school in Fort William for the Highland Council.


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2016: A year of grand designs



  • The branding of 2016 as the Year of Innovation, Architecture and Design, follows this 2015’s Year of Food and Drink status, and 2014’s Year of Homecoming.
  • VisitScotland’s involvement signals the belief that there’s a tourism buck to be made out of selling Scotland’s architecture – both historic and new – as an attraction.
  • WHEN fire tore through Glasgow School of Art’s Mackintosh building on 23 May, 2014, the shockwaves spread far beyond the confines of the creative community.
  • Turning the festival – and the entire Year of Innovation, Architecture and Design – into a financial success is the responsibility, ultimately, of the quango.
  • Contemporary structures add a new layer to our built environment, taking inspiration from and sometimes reacting against past achievements in design.


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GIB signs deal for £1.5bn offshore wind site



  • The Green Investment Bank (GIB) yesterday unveiled its backing for a £1.5 billion wind farm off the Suffolk coast, its eighth deal to date in the offshore wind sector.
  • The joint venture has also secured £1.37bn of debt facilities from a consortium of 12 commercial banks plus the European Investment Bank (EIB), making it the UK’s first construction-ready offshore wind project finance deal.
  • Although the partners haven’t detailed how much they have each committed to the project, it is thought GIB is investing around £100 million.
  • The Edinburgh and London-based bank has joined Siemens Financial Services, Macquarie Capital and German energy group RWE Innogy as 25 per cent joint equity partners in the Galloper wind farm.
  • Construction of the 336 megaWatt (mW) wind farm will start next month with around 700 jobs created during the construction phase and up to 90 in operations and maintenance once construction is complete.


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Chinese cash could fund Scottish construction



  • CHINESE investors could be attracted to plough hundreds of millions of pounds into key Scottish infrastructure projects – such as road upgrading and connecting offshore wind farms to the grid – on the back of moves to encourage foreign involvement in the HS2 high speed rail project.

  • Earlier this year it was revealed that Scotland is becoming a hotspot for Chinese property investors looking for an alternative to London with Edinburgh in particular attracting interest.

  • Michael Watson, an infrastructure and projects lawyer at Pinsent Masons, said the visit could also have a knock-on impact north of the Border but only if Scotland is able to present an attractive investment proposition for the ­Chinese.
  • Chancellor George Osborne this week travelled to China to try and attract investors there to bid for seven contracts worth £11.8 billion in total covering the first phase of HS2, between London and Birmingham.
  • The key is to have projects which are visible, well developed and ready to be invested in, because we are competing in an extremely competitive global market and the Chinese and other overseas investors have a wealth of options on where to put their money.”

    Watson said projects of sufficient scale which could interest Chinese investors include the A9 Perth to Inverness dualling project and rail electrification programmes.


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