For 102 years, an airport runway in Scotland witnessed the likes of The Beatles, Marlene Dietrich, and a slew of British Supermarine Spitfires touching down on its tarmac. But the airstrip, which began as just a humble line of grass, retired in 2018, and the plot of land is now moving onto its next mission: helping to solve the housing crisis in Edinburgh.
It had a good run (no pun intended) — but after a brief intermission as a VIP car parking lot for the Edinburgh Airport, the 72-acre site previously housing the airstrip is set to become a vibrant community with over 3,000 homes as well as shops, office space, a school, and an 11-acre urban park. Called Elements Edinburgh, the $1.3 billion project proposed by Crosswind Developments was approved by city council on Wednesday.
The new community will help the city reach its goal of building 9,500 homes by 2029. The target was established after Edinburgh declared a housing emergency in November 2023 amid 7,000 homeless individuals requiring temporary lodging, with 1,300 of them living in “unsuitable” accommodations, per the city council.
“By declaring a housing emergency, we hope to draw widescale attention to an issue that demands urgent and united action,” councillor Jane Meagher said in a statement at the time. “Every single person deserves a warm, safe, and affordable place to call home and we can address this, if we act now.”
https://nicenews.com/culture/airport-runway-edinburgh-housing-crisis/
