Buccleuch Street, Dalkeith

Buccleuch Street is an exemplar mixed-use development with new affordable homes that address the climate crisis and help tenants avoid fuel poverty by providing warm, comfortable, homes to Passivhaus standards, as well as revitalising a historic building and an area of Dalkeith that was run down and disconnected from the wider town.
The site was originally part of our masterplan for Dalkeith town centre. Workshops were held with stakeholders and the community and included a three-day drop-in and exhibition held in the town centre. Key objectives of the masterplan were to create a place which is well connected to the surrounding areas, with streets that provide the appropriate environment for pedestrians, cyclists and vehicles, a revitalised Square to provide a focal point, increased retail and mixed tenure housing, whilst introducing 20 Minute Neighbourhood principles to reduce the reliance on cars.
This community consultation influenced the design for the site. Various options were presented allowing us to achieve a design which provides a dialog between new and old. This enhances the existing character of the area by retaining the existing building and enhancing found features such as the ghost sign, and by resurrecting shopfronts to create an active frontage to the street. Enhancing the street frontage increases the town centre density and should lead to an increased footfall, while the pedestrian experience is improved by replacing a long boundary wall with an interesting new building.
New affordable Passivhaus flats are provided within a new building, while new flats were also created above commercial space within the existing stone building. The provision of highly energy efficient affordable homes that help to reduce fuel poverty and improve resident health is one of the foremost aspirations of many council clients, and by specifying the use of the Passivhaus methodology, Midlothian Council has built one of the first Passivhaus certified affordable housing projects in Scotland. This also helps towards addressing both the housing and climate emergencies and has created homes which benefit from nearly zero operational carbon use, greatly improving the lives of the tenants who live there.
Passivhaus is the most energy efficient model currently available and provides a quality product with exceptional indoor air quality, low maintenance and with far longer life expectancy. Use of Mechanical Ventilation with Heat Recovery (MVHR) and natural building materials addresses condensation and mould issues and improves the indoor microclimate, positively affecting the health of residents.