View Looking Down Calder Crescent, Wester Hailes

Category

Library Item

Item no

21313

Title

View looking down Calder Crescent, Wester Hailes

Description

A view of two different types of housing in the Calder area of Wester Hailes. In the middle are a number of two storey flats with steeply pitched roofs. The multi-storey flats of Medwin House have a white and grey pattern. The road leads to parking areas where a minibus, car and caravan can be seen. It is a cloudy day and the forefront of the image is shrouded in shadow.

Artist / maker

MacLean, Kevin

Date

2009

Type

Digital image

Location

Edinburgh and Scottish Collection

Wester Hailes, located on the western periphery of Edinburgh, is a post-war housing estate constructed between 1969 and 1975. On completion, the housing stock comprised a mixture of tenements and high rise. Wester Hailes possessed a declining population with a high proportion of single parent and low income households, high unemployment and a high turnover of tenancies. It was one of four peripheral housing estates chosen to take part in the New Life for Urban Scotland Initiative in 1988. The initiative and the partnerships that they generated were expected to provide valuable lessons on how to tackle the social, economic and environmental problems of large urban distressed areas. The area was extensively redeveloped during the 1990s and 2000s with a number of initiatives outlined by the Wester Hailes Partnership. These initiatives covered housing and environmental improvement, the improvement of social facilities, the provision of training opportunities and the promotion of community activities and involvement. Housing and environmental improvements have had a visible impact with a large number of properties being renovated and others being demolished and replaced with newer 'low-rise' housing.

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Related images

Related subjects

Homes > Residential buildings > Flats

Homes > Residential buildings > Tower blocks

Natural phenomena > Weather > Clouds

Places > Edinburgh areas > Wester Hailes

Places > Scotland > Edinburgh

Transport > Infrastructure > Pavements

Transport > Infrastructure > Street lights

Transport > Land > Cars

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