Rockspring UK Value 2 Tanfield (Luxembourg) Sarl – snappily titled component of a property asset and fund manager specialising in commercial real-estate investment across the UK and continental Europe for over 30 years – has plans for the entrances to its property at 1 Tanfield (Ref. 15/04365/FUL).
It wants to replace four politely understated gatepost globe lights on Inverleith Row and Glenogle Road with a mixture of steel signage and ‘decorative capitals’.
A telephone call between the company’s agent and City of Edinburgh Council last month confirmed that the proposal ‘barely constitutes “development”’, but application for Planning Permission was advised nevertheless.
And a good thing too, says Spurtle. The proposed capitals – to be lit from below – strike us as frivolous and attention-seeking. They would disrupt the symmetry of globe lights and stone balls at Canonmills, and – at nearly 1.5 metres tall – significantly detract from this otherwise discreet frontage with sober historical associations in the Inverleith Conservation Area.
No doubt, attracting attention is exactly what such tutti-frutti fatuousness is required to do.
However, perhaps an effective but less discordant result could be achieved by, say, commissioning a new work of sculpture for the building’s forecourt to replace Gerald Laing’s now departed Axis Mund: 5 Wise Virgins – Their Apotheosis.
Similarly minded observers have until 6 November to lodge an objection.
Useful contacts
Inverleith Society: Bobby Fraser, Hon. Secretary, 21 Warriston Crescent, Edinburgh EH3 5LB, email info@inverleith-society.org.uk
Stockbridge & Inverleith Community Council: Next meeting at 7.00pm on 21 October, Stockbridge Parish Church, Saxe-Coburg Street. Tel. 529 5665, email stockbridgeandinverleithcc@gmail.com
Got a view? Tell us at spurtle@hotmail.co.uk and @theSpurtle and Facebook
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New Town Flâneur @NewTownFlaneur
@theSpurtle If it's locally-sourced, organic tutti-frutti, locals won't mind. In fact, they'll probably start campaigning for it.
Lizzie Rynne Retweeted Broughton Spurtle
*uck indeedy.