December 2008 - Halcrow

New milestones
for Scottish
transport
Park-and-ride facility puts sustainable development at its heart
n innovative £3.5 million park-andride
scheme in Edinburgh – set to
A
ease congestion and speedily whisk
users into the heart of the Scottish capital –
has been completed.
The Straiton park-and-ride facility is one
element of the Leith to Straiton/Ferniehill
Quality Bus Corridor scheme – taking shape
around Edinburgh as part of the city council’s
local transport strategy.
It is the sixth such
facility encircling
Edinburgh.
Halcrow was
involved in two of
the existing sites
– Hermiston (A71)
and Ingliston (A8). Both opened in 2005 and
proved extremely popular with the public.
The project includes the construction of a
bus-based, park-and-ride car facility for
600 vehicles, a high-quality terminal building,
a new signalised road junction, significant
landscaping, cycle and pedestrian facilities,
sustainable drainage and general road
improvements.
Work began in October 2007. The
block paved car park is being
A family of oystercatcher
birds roosted
in a part-constructed
parking bay
laid and the striking, steel-framed
terminal building is taking shape. This
closely resembles its sister building at
Hermiston that Halcrow helped design.
The whole site is intelligently screened
from surrounding properties and roads
through a series of strategically placed
and landscaped bunds.
During construction, a family of
oystercatcher birds roosted in a partconstructed
parking bay.
From within their fencedoff
exclusion zone, the
feathered creatures
raised a brood of chicks
in the heart of this busy
construction site.
Security played a key role in the scheme’s
planning and design. The whole site will
be securely fenced and covered by CCTV
linked back to the City of Edinburgh’s
central monitoring facility. It’s just this
sort of insightful forward-planning that
should ensure the facility is approved by
the police and awarded a ‘Park Mark’
accreditation.
he Scottish Government
T
is embedding sustainable
development at the heart
of its transport strategy, and has
commissioned Halcrow to initiate a
comprehensive review.
Breaking the link between economic
growth, increased traffic and rising
emissions is a key challenge laid down in
Scotland’s National Transport Strategy.
Halcrow will develop approaches and
tools to help integrate climate change
considerations into Transport Scotland’s
management and technical procedures.
Building on existing relationships and
experience of completing similar work
for the Highways Agency, Halcrow
will assess the scope for sustainable
development within Transport Scotland’s
infrastructure and network management
processes. A customised carbon
accounting tool will be developed as part
of the review, enabling evidence-based
decisions aimed at reducing a project’s
carbon footprint.
Covering both roads and rail, the project
will focus on making sustainable
development an operational reality rather
than simply an aspiration. A whole-life
approach to transport infrastructure is
a central feature of the review, which
evaluates new build, improvement and
maintenance projects.
Market sector director Mark Baynham
commented: “This is a milestone project
which fits superbly with the company’s
aim to become the lead consultant in
sustainable development.”
Designated bus lanes await their first passengers
The team celebrates the terminal’s official opening
The Team
Design and supervision – Halcrow, contractor – Graham
Construction, sub-consultant – Gillespies Architects,
project manager – Neil Stewart, detailed design team
leader – Scott Grant, site team – Stuart Smith,
John Gillogley and Vicky Bache
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