Thanks to Tommy for these two interesting pictures. If the bus station application goes ahead and the flats get built it wouldn't be the first time that flats were built on a garage site in Nairn. Just across the river from this eventual development site the controversial Maggot Flats were also built on a former garage. It is interesting to note the lack of tree cover on the east bank of the river in these two images, they will enlarge a little. UPDATE: The images published above have prompted Joe Telfer to send the Gurn a picture of the new building just prior to completion. Interesting comments coming in too.
".....it wouldn't be the first time that flats were built on a garage site...."
ReplyDeleteOdd kind of logic, that, Mr Gurn. Are you suggesting that because the Maggot flats were built on the site of a garage, that makes it OK to build flats on the site of the bus garage?
As Kirstie might say to Phil: "Remember dear, what matters is Location, Location, Location!"
Ah yes I remember it well. Sitting for about a year with a for sale sign on it. Nicols had moved up to the West end garage. I took the plunge, remortgaged my house, sold my boat, and borrowed up to the neck to buy the site and fund the building which now stands there. With lots of sleepless nights, considering I was not a big time developer I reckon I made quite a good job of it. The tax man took his cut, and the region gets the council tax forevermore too. Those 4 houses along with the other 5 I had built in the past 30 years have given Nairn and the region a nice little earner. Maybe they should fix the sewage pipe in recognition of all the good I have done the town?
ReplyDeleteThe good old days not a ramp in sight just a pit?. Without any complaints.
ReplyDeleteOne day we'll all look at pics of the bus station and say " I forgot what it actually looked like before they built the supermarket with three floors of flats on top".
ReplyDeleteSo flats aren't homes? Try telling that to the people living quite happily in flats all over the UK!
ReplyDeleteI even remember the days of the MacRae & Dick garage in Nairn. What's at that site now? - flats. And that site fronted the A96 as well.
ReplyDeleteMaybe there is an historical trend in Nairn, maybe even started by Telfer, to build hideous looking modern buildings on brown field sites, all in the name of progress.
LOL the irony. One garage equals one toilet and handmaid. Multiple homes on the same site means multiple, toilets, sinks, baths, showers, etc all on the identical site.
ReplyDeletePerhaps this flats/homes development have contributed to overloading of sewers and the developer is responsible for the demise of swans and ducks. How ironic life can be!
What's even more ironic is that from memory of the current discussions on developments around Nairn, it is the developer who is responsible for sewer upgrades if the sewers don't have capacity.
@ anon 9.01 I didn't say that, I was just correcting the fact that I'd implied Joe Telfer had built flats he hadn't. It was four three storey homes with a garage under each of them that were constructed.
ReplyDelete'All the good I have done the town' !?
ReplyDeletePlain to see Mr Telfer as a developer squeezing as much as he could into a piece of land and it being allowed
A common complaint against many new developments in Nairn is the density of the build. These four houses underline this problem. Not buildings I would be proud of even if they have brought some income to HC
As Usual the gurn has done it's best to create controversy and spin with non facts and misrepresentation. FACT - I have never built a flat in my life. The building in harbour street is a terraced block of 4 x 4 bedroom houses, two and a half storeys high with garages underneath, below harbour st road level. I can therefore not be accused of starting a flat building trend 22 years ago. The gurn was well aware that these were not flats, but large family homes.I considered this as being the best use of a brown field site. The builder I purchased the site from had just started building the bungalows at lochloy road and was not interested in developing the site. There are now hundreds of new homes along lochloy road !
ReplyDeleteThe leaking mains sewer along the riverside has no connection or bearing on the building in harbour st. I am proud of cleaning up a polluted garage site and creating roomy desirable homes for businesses and families. The critics should put their money where there mouths are and buy up these eyesore sites, then show us all what we should do....I dont think there's much chance of that!
And a huge apology for suggesting that Joe Telfer had built flats in Harbour Street, I thought I'd corrected that in the additional comment I'd put in. It was only a bit later on after a very fuzy start to the day that I realised my stupid mistake. I have deleted the comment and now correct it and reproduce the ammended comment here, having removed any reference to flats:
ReplyDelete"The pictures are of Harbour Street anon, homes were built on that site too.
At the time a few people weren't happy with the houses that Joe Telfer built on the Harbour street site.
Looking back however, would anyone still prefer that the garage were there? Or maybe something else could have been built on the site? Would NICE or others object if Joe were to put the application in this week instead of (what was it now 20 years ago?)
I remember a letter at the time in the Nairnshire Telegraph bemoaning the loss of old fire station building further down Harbour Street and the suggestion that Mr Telfer's terrraced houses looked like a modern fire station.
Were the Maggot Flats OK? A lot of people still don't think so but others have changed their minds.
Would the Bus Station flats be OK? Opinion on architecture is very subjective - vote on the Gurn poll or put in a planning objection or comment of support to Highland Council depending on how far you are willing to go to express your views.
Here's a quandry for NICE - do they oppose the bus station flats and what do their membership think? "
This thread is now closed thank you all for your contributions.