Projects

E&Co were appointed as the structural consultants to convert the redundant Victorian swimming pool complex at Infirmary Street into studios and exhibition spaces with offices for the Dovecot Tapestry Studios, and further office and residential development. The original men’s pool had survived, although unusable, but much concrete was removed to lower the new basement level, while the superstructure was retained. Modern interventions were appropriate replacements to the demolished ladies pool

Interior images from MFA

A new base is to be built in a sensitive parkland setting on the banks of Kinghorn Loch in Fife, to house The Ecology Centre, a charity based community group, who lease space from a nearby farm premises at present. The new building will allow room for expansion of the Ecology Centre’s environmental awareness and education programmes, events and volunteering activities.

E&Co designed the new structure to be framed in engineered timber. A curved green Douglas Fir will frame the low-level glazed exhibition and café area overlooking the loch.

Sheep’s wool insulation and sedum roof assist the green credentials for this aspiring project.

Dating from 1783, this first class building in Edinburgh’s New Town became a principal performing arts venue vital to social and artistic life within the City. Today, the Assembly Rooms are far from being a state-of-art entertainment destination. The City of Edinburgh Council has the vision to change this and plan to reinvigorate the venue to its former glory, adding a destination restaurant and upmarket retail offerings as part of a £9m redevelopment.

As part of the first phase to demolish and redevelop their Grassmarket Campus, George Heriot’s School are creating a new two-story multi-facility Sports Centre.
The site is bounded by the historic Greyfriar’s Graveyard and can only be accessed via a very tight pend.
The new structure will be formed by a concrete-framed podium supporting long-span engineered frames supporting the sedum roof over the sports hall and studios.

Structural consultants to the Dunblane Museum Trust who wished to improve their facilities while retaining the character of the museum, which is housed in the Dean’s House - a C17th and C18th building fronting onto The Cross, and three adjoining C18th cottages. Floors were strengthened, circulation spaces rationalised, and the 1970’s extension was replaced with a new two-storey building with a glazed link.

E&Co are the structural consultants for the conservation of the home of Sir Walter Scott, cultural icon and father of the Scottish tourism industry, who in the early C19 transformed a modest farmhouse into a homage to Scottish architecture. Domestic in scale, it attracts busloads of foreign visitors; so better access and new visitor facilities outwith the house are also being designed.

Historic Scotland required a new education centre and offices for the park rangers based in the Queens Park, behind the Palace. The education rooms faced the park with large windows and a deep timber veranda, with timber security shutters. The terne-coated stainless steel roof makes it look like a low-lying flint.

E&Co were the structural consultants for this jewel of a library adjacent to the Flodden Wall in the heart of Edinburgh’s Old Town. The complex design accommodates within a small space traditional library facilities, with a van store and a performance space. The complexity of the structure is well hidden within the crispness of the design.

Restoration and conversion of Patons wool spinning mills into offices for Clackmannanshire Council. After most of the spinning sheds had been demolished, the two buildings of merit, dating from 1900s and 1930s, remained with an exposed edge. A 5 storey glass atrium was erected to seal of the building and provide access and circulation spaces

E&Co were the structural and civil engineering consultants appointed by the National Trust for Scotland to conserve and restore Newhailes House, with the conservation philosophy to preserve the patina of age while accommodating modern services etc. When we investigated the integrity of the existing structure, we discovered that alterations made to the roof in the late C18 were structurally unsound, so these were addressed and resolved. Considerable time was spent finding routes for the required services that had the least impact of the original fabric. A lift was also inserted. In 2007 we were further commissioned to improve the visitor facilities within the associated Courtyard Stableblock

The Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh required a new entrance pavilion which would provide improved visitor and staff facilities at their outreach garden near Peebles. The low building sits quietly among mature specimen trees and the predominance of the glazed areas encourages the open aspect. It was designed to a sustainable agenda with a sedum roof, timber frame, and a heat sink wall to modify the internal atmosphere, and wood chip heating.

E&Co were directly commissioned by Historic Scotland for the restoration and conversion of a substantial complex of C18th and C19th textile mills. Over 12 years this work encompassed sensitive conservation of the Arkwright Bell Mill, conversion of the East Mill and part of the Mid Mill into housing (for the Phoenix Trust), associated roads, and infrastructure works, restoration of the lades system and proposals for the reinstallation of one of the water wheels, and finally the development of the Arkwright Bell Mill into storage facilities and a visitor centre, opened in Spring 2008.

The City of Edinburgh Council commissioned an exemplar timber framed 60 bed care home and day centre, designed on sustainable principles and ‘secured by design’ in line with the city plan for older people “A City for All Ages”. The building has a ‘street’ providing service areas, and three wings that accommodate domestic scale 4 or 6 bedroom units, orientated to maximise the views and sunlight. The construction materials were chosen for consideration of U-values and future recycling. A biomass boiler provides heating and natural ventilation has been incorporated into the design.

Exemplar new build residential car home of 60 beds and day care facility for City of Edinburgh Council. £6M

Restoration of harbour-side warehouse for local fishermen.

E&Co were appointed as the structural engineers for the restoration of possibly the ‘oldest warehouse in Scotland’, then being used as fishermen’s stores, and surviving in a largely unaltered but very dilapidated state. The brief was to repair the existing structure and redevelop it to meet the needs of the C21st fishermen. Its location on the harbour side dictated the use of materials – limecrete externally, oak for external balustrades, and careful galvanising of the steelwork

E&Co were commissioned by the Church of Scotland Mission Board to remodel the existing 1960s building to replace the 100-seat theatre in basement, and circulation spaces on ground floor linking into John Knox’s House, while retaining upper floor offices. The prominence and location of the building in the tourist heart of Edinburgh meant that there was only room for 2 portacabins on the High Street. Access to the adjacent pend had to be kept clear at all times. The structural design had to accommodate these limitations, and great consideration was given to the size of beams specified and a careful programme for the sequencing of the erection.

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E&Co are the structural consultants for the new-build 400-seat concert hall and cinema complex commissioned by the Shetland Arts Centre on the harbour front in Lerwick. The original design proposed building the external envelope first to mitigate the prevailing weather conditions and then to construct the separate sound-proof boxes for the various venues and studios within it. Piles through the made-up ground down to rock provide a stiff foundation necessary for its acoustically sensitive use.

Image © Gareth Hoskins Architects