Bothwell Street New Park
On a site formerly occupied by three warehouses, a new student accommodation development in Edinburgh has opened in time for start of the new academic year. New Park, located on Bothwell Street, Edinburgh, boasts 238 beds across 6 storeys.
New Park is the latest student accommodation to open in the city with the rooms on offer ranging from a combination of shared cluster flat bedrooms and studio apartments. All rooms feature en-suite bathrooms, large beds, study areas and plenty of storage. Excellent communal facilities are also available for socialising.
The design of the development has been overseen by award-winning architectural practice McLaren Murdoch & Hamilton. Stewart Graham, a director at the firm, said:
“The client, Downing, purchased the site in 2015 and at the time we already had planning permission for a student accommodation block. Downing subsequently asked us to take it on from planning stage through construction and to completion on site.
“The planning permission we had in place was simply for a student accommodation block so we had to tailor the design to the Downing student accommodation model. We had freedom with the design of the external envelope and massing but the rooms and sizes were required to meet a specific standard that was set by Downing. There were some constraints regards the design of the building envelope which we tied in with the adjacent tenement so the depth and width of the building was coherent with the local townscape. This resulted in an atypical internal layout of room adjacencies and spaces but the actual rooms themselves met all the required criteria.
“It’s a brick faced building with the height and massing tying in with the adjacent tenements. We went for natural materials such as brick, timber and zinc. The facing brick that was used was a buff blend to provide a bit of variation and interest to the elevations. We also included some feature windows that break up the elevation with prominent recessed stair cores that help users orientate themselves.”
Room types and sizes vary to suit different needs and user budgets. Shared apartments provide private en-suite luxury with communal living and kitchen facilities. Studio apartments offer the ability to cook, relax and study in your own space.
Stewart added:
“It was a great opportunity for us to be able to work with Downing. This is the largest student accommodation build that we’ve completed and it adds to our experience with this type of project. Moving forward we’ve gained further knowledge and a good working relationship with Downing. It was a significant project and we hope to be working with them again in the near future.”
Breathing new life into an area that was in danger of falling into disrepair, New Park will be a boost to both students and the local economy. The city centre is just a short walk away with easy access to the University of Edinburgh’s main campus.
