standards. It is considered that this cost should be clearly reflected in the land value. The current position is that the winning partnership of Hall and Tawse Scotland Ltd, with Keir and Fraser Architect To achieve this, a one-off developer/ design competition was devised. This incorporated two stages. The first stage was an evaluation solely on layout and design by a panel made up of national amenity organisations, local representatives and the District Council, with the purpose of ensuring that only schemes of quality were allowed through to the next stage. This meant that all Registered Architects working for a developer knew that a quality threshold would be required. The second stage consisted of a short list of entries for decision by the District Council. It was only at this stage that the names of the developer/design partnership were revealed and the financial offers opened. The Council, most importantly, still had a choice both of design and finance and most crucially this two-stage evaluation (in theory) stopped any one partnership loading the money side of the equation in terms of land value at the expense of the -built quality. "An alternative means of maintaining profitability for both landowner and developer, but which does not act as a disincentive to the creation of quality design in the 'Builder-Licence Scheme' whereby the return to the landowner is achieved over the life of a whole project based on an agreed percentage of the selling price of each house. Adoption of this apprdach by enlightened landowners who have a real commitment to rhe community would enable physical and social benefits to new development without sacrificing a significant proportion of the land value and without asking the developer to reduce the return on capital employed in the project. Glasgow, have now obtaine , planning permission for 33 flats an Conservation Area Consent f demolition of various buildings. ,.J (Incidentally, this was not as easy as it seems as the Highways Authority threatened to withhold Construction Consent under the Roads [Scotland] Act 1984 and additional The second mechanism adopted to attempt to ensure a quality threshold was the use of a builder-licence scheme. To quote from the Districtwide Local Plan (currently on deposit): "Good design does not necess,;;uily cost more. However, the Council rec:ognises that there is often a cost penalty to developers who pursue high design "Since only a deposit is paid for the land under this initiative the builder's capital requirement falls. With the same turnover and profit margin, the return on capital dramatically improves, enabling the builder to fund the design improvements. The landowner can also strongly influence the design and quality controls under this system which reverses the present unsatisfactory relationship between land price and design quality." John Preston worries about the impact measures were required to maintain the integrity of the scheme.) It is now hoped to commence demolition at the end of the year with construction during 1993. I have deliberately not included drawings or discussed the layout and design as this may obfuscate the issues I am trying to highlight, namely the need in cerrr1in instances to adopt specific mechanisms to attempt to ensure environmental quality. Whether the Council has achieved its objectives will be tested in due course and, if readers are curious, I shall be happy to offer a follow-up article so that opinions can be aired. Andrew Millar is a principal planner at Clackmannan District Council of new developments on Conservation Areas and listed buildings. DIFFERINGPERSPECTIVES Assessing the impact of a building on its surroundings is often difficult. There may be obvious viewpoints, for which a perspective or photomontage may be appropriate, bur have all relevant views been taken into account, particularly the impact on a Conservation Area or the setting of a listed building? How valid a representation will a perspective be? How much information can an applicant be compelled to provide? Some recent schemes in Cambridge have highlighted the problems. The first was the new Maitland Robinson Library at Downing College, by Quinlan Terry, which raised major issues in terms of siring and landscaping by placing a major new building on a lawn just inside the main entrance to the college. This open green space provided a vital breathing space and 'buffer' between the classical calm of the College and the busy street outside. In considering the applications, we had to CONTEXT 36 evaluate the impact of the proposed building on this site in relation to its Conservation Area setting, and in its relationship to the character of the College, its Grade I buildings by Wilkins and Barry and the unlisted bur curtilage 20th century buildings by Baker and Scott. A sketch perspective was submitted with the applications, but did not give an accurate impression of the proposed building and its relationship to its setting. Its viewpoint (which, as far as could be tested on site, appeared to be part way up a wall behind the porter's lodge) did not show the viral view from the College entrance. Further information was requested, bur in the interim the then City Planning Officer suggested (and the College agreed), that a set of photographs be taken of helium balloons showing the outline of the building flown on fishing lines from the pegged-our corners and centre of the site. These were photographed from a range of viewpoints, and rough overlays of the outline were produced to show both the view from the College entrance and the nearest we could get to the viewpoint of the submitted perspective. These helped to give an impression of the impact of the likely bulk. The precise location was another major issue. Should it stand on the main cross axis or be set back to the north, standing in its own space and allowing both buildings flanking the entrance to the central space to be seen beyond? When the requested model was eventually provided, the library building was stuck down, and had to be prised off to allow different positions to be evaluated. We asked for this to be done using a modelscope, but none could be found. Fully set-up perspectives were then provided to show the building in the architect's and the council's preferred locations, and a compromise was reached on the siring of the building. .. 13
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