The Edinburgh Reporter October 2022

77

BID team cleans up

ONE OF THE MAIN purposes

of the online archive,

Edinburgh Collected, is not

only to help build the city’s

digital collections, but to give

everyone the opportunity to

add their own images and

memories to the site.

People post photos of their

ancestors, school and

childhood photos, others put

up images of the ever-

changing surroundings of their

own neighbourhood.

One of the members of staff

has taken some photos of the

demolition of the former Royal

Bank of Scotland building on

Dundas Street (pictured above)

in a new scrapbook.

This building built in the

Brutalist architectural style in

1968, had been unoccupied

since 2018 and it is now in the

process of demolition as part

of the New Town Quarter

development. Edinburgh is a

constantly changing city and at

any given time there are what

seems like dozens of building

projects going on.

Can you help to update the

archive and record the changes

in your area on Edinburgh

Collected?

Have a look at any changing

shops, buildings and street

scenes and help capture

the views.

edinburghcollected.org

City Libraries

launch kids writing

competition

GREEN PENCIL 2022 has been launched

by the City Libraries. The environmentally

themed creative writing competition, is

open to all P4 to P7 aged children and

young people in S1 to S3 in Edinburgh.

The deadline for entries is 21 October.

The ‘Year of Scotland’s Stories’ is also

the theme. Are you a budding story

writer? Could you write a story/ poem/

prose with an environmental theme? It

could be about yourself, your pet, a

special place or your favourite animal

that relates to your life in Scotland.

You could include Scotland’s

landscapes, lochs, towns and villages.

A story or poem that captures the

reader’s imagination, piques interest and

brings your writing to life.

Entries can be poetry, prose or story,

all that is required is that the writing is

the author’s own work and is no longer

than one side of A4 paper.

An awards ceremony will be held on 24

November at Central Library.

http://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/libraries/

green-pencil-award-

Record the changes for Edinburgh Collected

By RODDY SMITH

Chief Executive, Essential Edinburgh

THE VITAL support provided by Essential

Edinburgh’s Clean Team in August offered a

graphic demonstration of the value of private

sector businesses paying to supplement the

services provided by local authorities.

While other parts of the city centre were,

literally, littered by ever-mounting piles of

uncollected garbage as the city bin strike hit

hard, the Business Improvement District

bounded by Princes Street and George Street

was noticeably cleaner.

Our team members filled over 1400 sacks of

over-spilled rubbish during the strikes, an

amazing quantity and testament to their hard

work on behalf of our levy paying businesses,

and tangible evidence of the value of the private

sector investing in its city centre.

It was disappointing that the bin strike had

such an adverse impact on the face we were able

to present to the world as our famous summer

festivals returned post Covid-19 pandemic. I

have no comment to make on the rights or

wrongs of the strike but there is no doubt that at

our busiest time of the year, when the world was

watching, the city looked so bad.

However, while the numbers may have

tracked a little below the record-breaking pre

pandemic levels of 2019, it was very

encouraging to see the city so vibrant and busy.

It was pleasing to see lots of international

visitors – particularly from the USA – in the

city. Numbers for the Far East were still low,

and also the Middle East, so proactive

marketing to these key markets should be

a priority moving forward.

In terms of how the city centre performed,

footfall and retail sales are still reporting a very

mixed bag. With footfall still tracking circa 10%

below 2019 levels we need to work hard to bring

residents and tourists back in. A key part of the

city centre community still not returning is our

office-based workers. Understandably as we

recover many businesses are maintaining a

hybrid work system or indeed allowing their

staff to work from home full time. This includes

a number of large employers including both the

local and national government. It is hoped that

numbers return in the medium term and

although it is anticipated that home working

will continue indefinitely a greater proportion

of working time in the office will greatly aid city

centre recovery, and it would be very helpful to

the myriad businesses who depend on this

demographic to see our governments

encouraging more staff to return more often.