Linksview House, a Category A listed tower block in the Leith Conservation Area, houses 98 of the 300 local families. Its listed status poses technical and legislative challenges for retrofitting. Engagement, through drop-in sessions, focused on two themes: Tell Us About… and Help Shape the Future of… . A pre-planning and consent update will show how feedback shaped proposals. This retrofit aims to enhance thermal performance and living standards, serving as a model for upgrading.

 

 

Who is on the project? 

 

Project Manager / Quantity Surveyor / H&S Consultant  - Atkins Realis

Architect - Collective Architecture

Conservation Architect - Collective Architecture

Energy Consultant - Collective Energy

Structural Engineer - Narros 

MEP - Blackwood Partnership

Landscape Architecture - Urban Pioneers

Acoustician - RMP

Colour Consultant - Prof. Fiona McLachlan

Fire Engineer - A10

Lighting Designer - EFLA

 

Describe the context of the community engagement. Why did the engagement take place?

 

Cables Wynd House and Linksview House are two Category A Listed tower blocks which are home to approximately 300 families, or households, in the heart of Leith’s Conservation Area. The City of Edinburgh Council are the majority owners and custodians of the buildings and have an obligation to upgrade their housing stock to meet the Energy Efficiency Standard for Social Housing (EESSH 2). From the very beginning of the project, resident and stakeholder participation has shaped the project brief, informed the design team’s proposals, and enabled us to advocate for residents where their voice has previously been unheard. Rather than view engagement as a tick-box exercise, we have used it as process to understand the lived experience of residents and identify opportunities for improvement in addition to the energy-led project brief. The investment and intervention required to upgrade the performance of the buildings provides a greater opportunity to deliver transformational change. Creating a platform for resident voice and embedding this into the decision making is fundamental to the successful delivery of the project, as residents currently living there will still call the building ‘home’ during the retrofit and long after it is complete.

 

Who did you engage with and how? 

 

Engagement focused on existing residents, with every home invited to participate at every event. These were advertised by posting flyers through every door and displaying posters entrances, in every lift lobby and within the lifts. It also included internal Council stakeholders, Historic Environment Scotland, non-statutory heritage bodies, and the wider community. The first resident engagement event introduced the project and team on 9th February 2023. Since then, nine in-person events, including a colour workshop, were held during RIBA Stages 0 to 3. Engagement was planned around two themes: Firstly, “Tell us about…” aimed to understand residents; lived experiences. To do this, we developed the bespoke Home Standard Tool, adapted from the Place Standard Tool, which we’ve refined over several years. This tool uses 14 themes scored from 1 (very poor) to 7 (very good), alongside qualitative questions. This approach provided a rich understanding of each building, highlighting what works and residents priorities for change. Secondly, “Help shape the future of…” events were drop-in sessions held in building lobbies. These sessions created a feedback loop, updated residents on proposals, and offered further opportunities for input. Engagement with the wider community also identified a family with acute accessibility needs living in substandard conditions. We conducted individual sessions via email and online meetings with the family, housing officers, and occupational therapists. This led to the development of proposals for an infill dwelling at the base of Cables Wynd House, tailored to their specific needs.

 

How did the project and the community benefit from engagement? 

 

The ongoing engagement places people at the heart of retrofit, providing the design team and client with a holistic understanding of both buildings while identifying opportunities for meaningful change. It has also empowered participants, fostering a sense of influence and control over decisions affecting their lives. Residents’ contributions have evidenced the need for robust proposals that exceed compliance, prioritising comfort and wellbeing. Although energy efficiency remains the core focus, the project scope has expanded to include comfort, health, safety, and placemaking, with resident feedback shaping these aspects. For example, long-standing concerns about the lifts, initially outside the project scope, were amplified through resident advocacy and Council engagement. This resulted in lift replacement being prioritised ahead of the main works. Similarly, concerns about acoustics, raised at quarterly Resident Group Forums, led to an acoustician being added to the project team. Efforts were made to address overcrowding by exploring options to combine smaller flats into larger family homes. However, this solution was not pursued due to the housing crisis and the untenable loss of a few dwellings. A series of events created a platform for residents to shape proposals while offering a feedback loop from previous engagement. Key activities included a colour workshop influencing building colour strategies and sessions to shape proposals for community hubs at the base of each building.