Edinburgh housing: Demolition plans for problem block of flats thrown into chaos by move to list building
‘The challenges, the cost issues and the implications are much more difficult to manage and potentially insurmountable’ - Cllr Tim Pogson
Plans by Edinburgh council to demolish a problem block of flats have been thrown into chaos after Historic Environment Scotland said the building was likely to be listed.
Residents of Westfield Court in Gorgie were told last November that the council wanted to bring in the bulldozers because of persistent problems, including sewage leaking into flats. Contractors had told the council some of the pipes were now "beyond practical or technical repair and no longer considered serviceable".
The council currently owns 32 of the 94 flats at eight-storey Westfield Court, with the other 62 privately owned. In order to proceed with the demolition it embarked on a strategy of buying up the other flats in a bid to obtain full ownership.
But in December the council learned that an application had been made to Historic Environment Scotland (HES) for Westfield Court to be designated a listed building. And earlier this month HES notified the council that it believed the building met the standard of special architectural and historic interest for listing, with a consultation to take place before a final decision.
Now the council has halted its attempts to buy the other flats in the block, with officials warning that listed status would increase the costs of repairs on the block even further.
Housing convener Tim Pogson said the situation was already very difficult and challenging for all concerned. But he said: “This listing issue just increases the challenge by introducing new aspect of uncertainty, meaning that the approach we had agreed will potentially have to be revisited, with implications for everybody who is involved.
“The listing news has dropped a boulder in the middle of all the planning and we’re having to do a bit of a handbrake turn. The challenges, the cost issues and the implications for all owners, including ourselves, are much more difficult to manage and potentially insurmountable.”
A report to next week’s housing committee says: “Officers believe it is likely that listed status will be awarded and therefore feel that the full ownership strategy is no longer appropriate. On that basis, no further work will be undertaken to purchase properties in the block until we are notified of a final decision.
“Approval will be sought from planning committee in June to appeal any listing of the building. If the building is listed, officers will follow the agreed acquisitions and disposal policy and seek to divest from the building in order to minimise disproportionate risk and financial burden being placed on the council.”
Officials said listed status did not entirely rule out the possibility of demolition, but such a move would require listed building consent and there would be a presumption against demolition.
They said they believed the building had been “beyond its serviceable life” for some time and its condition was deteriorating week by week. Crash decks have now had to be erected in case of falling cladding.
The committee report says an independent contractor has estimated that it would cost around £500,000 per flat - a total of £48m - to reinstate the building to an acceptable standard.
The council has been moving tenants out of its flats in the block, so only nine of the 32 council-owned properties are still occupied.
One flat owner, Jenny Page, told the housing committee in December how she was losing sleep and had been signed off work, unable to cope with the uncertainty of potential homelessness and the fear of having to sell her flat back to the council at a cut-price rate. “This would ruin me, I would never be able to afford another mortgage, I could not afford to live in Edinburgh,” she said.
The 1960s-built Cables Wynd House in Leith, better known as the banana flats, was made a Category A listed building in 2017 and, along with nearby Linksview House, is due to be given a £69m revamp.
Westfield Court which was completed in 1952, has been described as “the original banana flats”. It was built as part of Edinburgh’s response to housing needs after the Second World War. It was one of Edinburgh's earliest multi-storey blocks, a crescent-shaped building with balconies, a communal heating system and a nursery and playground on the top floor., which closed in 2010.
The committee on June 1 will be asked to agree that dialogue between officials, owners, residents and tenants on the future of Westfield Court should continue and officials would bring a report on the HES decision and its implications at the earliest opportunity.
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