Man rescued at Dean Bridge – The Wind Surf in Leith – New hotel planned for Tollcross – New street lighting – George Street during the Festival
Line Rescue teams from Tollcross and Newcraighall were mobilised to the area and an intensive search was carried out by firefighters on foot, both up and downstream, assisted by the staff in the Operations Control who remained on the phone to him, passing information to the crews. A further 999 call was received from a member of the public advising he could hear someone crying for help.
Firefighters came upon the casualty coming up onto Dean Bridge and the back of Randolph Crescent. The Line Rescue team was set up and the rescue performed from above with Firefighters abseiling 200 feet to the man and assisting him into a nappy stretcher from where he was lowered a further 200 feet to the footpath below.
He was suffering minor injuries and was handed to the Ambulance service for assessment.
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The eye-catching luxury liner the Wind Surf arrived in Leith yesterday for her maiden call at the Edinburgh port. The Wind Surf is the flagship of the Windstar fleet and is a ‘motor sailing yacht’ – a unique ship in the cruise sector – and comes complete with five masts and seven sails.
Bringing over 300 passengers with her, the ship calls at Leith as part of her “Scandinavian Tapestry” cruise destined for Sweden.
The Port of Leith, owned by Forth Ports, is the gateway to Edinburgh for the cruise business and has been welcoming commercial liners to the Port since the mid-1960s. 2013 will be the busiest cruise season for the port operator with 80 cruise liners calling at the Scottish ports of Leith, Rosyth and Dundee bringing over 80,000 visitors to Scotland.
Commenting on the 2013 cruise season, Fiona Doherty, Port Manager at Leith said:- “We are delighted to welcome theWind Surf to the Port of Leith as the starting destination for her cruise around Scandinavia. Scotland is a world-class destination, and we are looking forward to the Wind Surf calling at Leith again in the future.”
The Wind Surf will return to Leith in August, and then again in July 2014 after having sailed around the Caribbean and the Mediterranean. The ship has 6 guest decks with a swimming pool and spa, fitness centre, casino, lounge, watersports platform and several luxurious bars and restaurants.
The liner is 187 metres in length and has 5 masts. The Wind Surf has the capacity for 310 guests in a variety of comfortable staterooms and deluxe suites.
The Cruise Terminal at Leith has facilities for visitors with easy access to the retail and leisure facilities at Ocean Terminal and transport links into the City Centre.
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A new 102 bedroom hotel is planned for 38 Gardner’s Crescent where the building next to the telephone exchange is to be demolished to make way for a modern 6 storey building. There are two interesting facts in the report which recommends that the planning permission is granted next week:-the first is that the developer, Croydon Hotels Limited, will be required to pay almost £50,000 in tram subsidy and the second is that the hotel will be required to retain all of its refuse in internal storage areas, and will not be allowed to site these on street as we see in so many other locations across the city.
Croydon Hotels run Hampton by Hilton hotels in the south of England.
You can see the plans for the new building along with drawings of its unremarkable facade here on the city’s planning website.
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Aged lampposts in Edinburgh will be replaced with more energy efficient equipment after an additional £1 million was sourced by the council this year.
The extra funding will be used to replace up to 760 old concrete and steel lampposts which failed an independent risk-based structural test.
The new aluminium columns are the first choice in street lighting designs as they do not need on-going maintenance and have a design life of more than 50 years, which is almost double the design life of the old concrete and steel columns. They are also built using recycled material and can be recycled again at the end of their life.
Street lighting electricity costs are predicted to double by 2020 and the new posts will be fitted with energy efficient white light lanterns, which will support the drive to reduce electricity costs whilst helping the Council to meet environmental targets.
Councillor Lesley Hinds, Environment Convener, said: “Replacing old lampposts with modern aluminium columns makes both environmental and financial sense. They last up to twice as long as the traditional designs, and can even be recycled once finished with.
This would be an ideal opportunity to save energy and our carbon footprint, as well as to reduce the amount paid to light the city. It would also help to improve safety of residents and visitors.”
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The City of Edinburgh Council has supported plans from Essential Edinburgh to extend the Festival hub along the entire length of George Street for the month of August this year, and these changes will take place from Sunday 28 July. More areas of the street will be available for performances from the various festivals while local restaurants and bars will be able to use some of the additional pedestrian space for extra tables and chairs outside.
This will involve a number to changes to traffic movements along the street.These are shown on the plan:
- Between Hanover Street and Frederick Street, the street will be closed to general traffic to allow the housing of the Spiegel Terrace.
- Between Charlotte Square and Frederick Street traffic will be westbound only on the south side of the carriageway.
- Between Hanover Street and St Andrew Square traffic will be eastbound only on the north side of the carriageway.
- Parking will be maintained along the length of the street apart from the block that is housing the Spiegel Terrace (between Hanover and Frederick Streets).
The road closures will be in place between 28 July to 28 August 2013.
Further information including details of activities is available from the Essential Edinburgh webpage: www.essentialedinburgh.co.uk
Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
