12 Days of 7N... day 3! There were three babies born to team members this year - welcome Tobias, Maeve, and Arran!

12 Days of 7N... day 2! In June, Laura and Chris trained as mental health first aiders to complement our eight trained physical first aiders. As Foundation Partners of the Architects’ Benevolent Society, we are strong advocates for mental health support within the workplace and looking out for each other as best we can. This photograph is from our bake sale in May to raise funding for @archbensoc ‘Bake the World a Better Place’. We strongly encourge anyone who feels able, to contribute to their good work.

Welcome to ‘The 12 Days of 7N’! It is the end of the year and so this month we will be celebrating all that we have achieved in 2023. Kicking-off with our sporting superstars, team 007N won the women’s trophy at the 2023 Buccleuch Property Challenge in September! It was a wonderfully sunny day at Drumlanrig Castle, full of fun challenges and money raised for @horsetime.org.uk charity. Thank you @buccleuchpropertychallenge and @blueskyexperiences for organising and we look forward to defending the trophy in 2024!

HubStation has been highly commended in the prestigious NLA Awards. Our project was up against very strong competition and so we are delighted to see it recognised as a progressive, sustainable benchmark for rail transport. You can see more about the project on our website and we send out our congratulations to all of the winners! @networkrail @arupgroup @gt_llp @lucinsider

Finding the right balance. The Knab was designed to achieve a “gentle density”, ensuring a sustainable new community without requiring complex structures and construction techniques. Aware of elevated construction costs on Shetland, the proposals were developed around simple forms and a simple palette of materials, working with the existing topography where possible, with variety and interest created through orientation and careful siting of the plots. The masterplan is devised along a central pedestrian-prioritised street that provides a fully accessible route through the neighbourhood and connects each of the public spaces. The buildings and public realm have been designed to stitch the site and its existing listed buildings, a former high school, into the grain of Lerwick’s Old Town. Staggered building forms are offset around intimate streets, spaces, and residential courtyards that were designed in collaboration with @rankinfraserlandscapearch

Designing spaces to support communities. 7N worked with Nick Wright Planning to engage with the local community and identify the key moves that could be made to address some of the societal challenges we encountered at the Knab masterplan. Together, we held a series of workshops and public meetings that helped to shape the emerging designs. Through this extensive engagement, our masterplan evolved beyond housing to include community initiatives that could be structured to support the existing residents. The ambition of this was to strengthen existing infrastructure, as well as providing opportunities for the integration of a new population.

Our appointment for the masterplan of Lerwick Lanes follows the success of our recent work on the edge of Lerwick at the Knab site. Lerwick is the main town and port on Shetland. In 2017 7N were appointed to develop a masterplan for the recently vacated high school at the Knab, a promontory to the south of the town centre. A combination of high house prices with high construction costs as a result of geographic and labour challenges, had created an environment where the islands were struggling to retain and attract younger people. The brief called for a housing led proposal that would help to address the lack of affordable accommodation in Lerwick, whilst retaining and incorporating the listed buildings on site for community led uses.

We’re delighted to have been appointed by Shetland Islands Council to design a masterplan for Lerwick Lanes in Lerwick town centre. This will be an exciting continuation of our work in Shetland, following our award winning masterplan for SIC on the Knab site in Lerwick. Neil Grant, Director of Development, said: “Securing the services of 7N Architects is a major step forward for this project – they have already demonstrated that they understand the local environment, and have a professional and highly qualified team. I look forward to the detail of their work that will help us to build up a picture of what the Lerwick Lanes area could look like in the future.”

We have launched a 7N Architects quarterly newsletter! You can find it through the journal page on our website and at the below address. Our hope is that it provides a window into some of the exciting things that have been keeping us busy and inspired in recent months. This autumn’s edition covers construction milestones, new appointments, Ewan reflects on what makes a project a success, and team updates. https://tinyurl.com/4tr62c7a https://www.7narchitects.com/

A palette that feels authentically Edinburgh. The material choices within our New Eidyn project are designed to reflect the attributes of Edinburgh. Rich and characterful materials, that are synonymous with the city’s classic interior spaces, provide a warm and tactile environment throughout all areas. Bespoke joinery combined with high-quality natural materials, serves to evoke the grand townhouse spaces of the adjacent Edinburgh New Town and create an authentic sense of luxury. This project has been a delight to work on and we are enormously grateful to all who have contributed along the way. Particular thanks goes to our collaborators on this journey: @nativeland_ltd @nativelandlifestyle @nuveeninv @gt_llp @beck_scotland @beckinteriors @hudsonandmercerdesign @optimisedenvironmentsltd @wallace.whittle David Stanley Associates, and Thomas and Adamson. Photograph by @zac.and.zac

Modern living within the heart of historic Edinburgh. All of the 152 apartments at New Eidyn benefit from light-filled and airy spaces, full of high-quality finishes and crafted touches. A key ambition of the design was to ensure that residents can still feel connected with their surroundings from the privacy of their rooftop homes. This has been achieved through allowing the architecture to act as a natural and calm backdrop, while arranging the spaces in ways that bring the expansive views of the skyline deep into the apartments. Photograph by @zac.and.zac @neweidyn @nativeland_ltd @nativelandlifestyle @gt_llp @nuveeninv @beck_scotland @beckinteriors @hudsonandmercerdesign @optimisedenvironmentsltd @wallace.whittle Thomas & Anderson David Stanley Associates

A unique perspective of the Edinburgh skyline. Situated on the fifth floor, the residents’ hotel-style amenity room of New Eidyn captures the imagination with expansive views of Edinburgh roofscapes. This space offers many unique opportunities for residents to gather, while surrounded on three sides by incredible views back over the city and beyond to the Firth of Forth. Photograph by @zac.and.zac @neweidyn @nativeland_ltd @nativelandlifestyle @gt_llp @nuveeninv @beck_scotland @beckinteriors @hudsonandmercerdesign @optimisedenvironmentsltd @wallace.whittle Thomas & Anderson David Stanley Associates

A calm welcome. The New Eidyn project posed a unique challenge of how to transition from the bustle of street level to the exclusive rooftop residential areas. We collaborated with @nativeland_ltd to curate a sequence of thoughtful spaces and experiences that connect with Edinburgh’s cityscape throughout the journey. Residents and guests are greeted in the calm environment of this Concierge space that is characterised by high ceilings and generous proportions. From there, an elevator whisks them directly to the fifth floor, where they connect with the city skyline from the spacious amenity room and verdant gardens. Photograph by @zac.and.zac @neweidyn @nativeland_ltd @nativelandlifestyle @gt_llp @nuveeninv @beck_scotland @beckinteriors @hudsonandmercerdesign @optimisedenvironmentsltd @wallace.whittle Thomas & Anderson David Stanley Associates

Crafting a sense of place. 7N has been working on the New Eidyn residential development since 2017, and we are delighted to reveal our photographs of this extraordinary project. New Eidyn is the product of a close partnership with internationally recognised residential developers Native Land, on behalf of clients Nuveen Real Estate and their development partner Queensberry Properties. The result is an exceptional set of 152 homes across three pavilion buildings, sitting atop of the £1bn St James Quarter in the heart of Edinburgh’s city centre. Over the next few days, we will share more images and discuss how we reached this point in the journey. Photograph by @zac.and.zac @neweidyn @nativeland_ltd @nativelandlifestyle @gt_llp @nuveeninv @beck_scotland @beckinteriors @hudsonandmercerdesign @optimisedenvironmentsltd @wallace.whittle Thomas & Anderson David Stanley Associates

007N with the win! Our women's team did incredibly well to come away with the trophy at the Buccleuch Property Challenge 2023! The day was hot and challenging, but our teams rose to the occasion and completed various gruelling tasks across the Drumlanrig Estate, including bike rides, hill climbs, an assault course, swimming, and axe-throwing, to name just a few. Both 7N teams had a great time on the estate and we were grateful for the delicious BBQ in the afternoon. It was also nice to see so many familiar faces and meet some new people along the course. We would like to extend our congratulations to all of the other participants, as well as the @buccleuchpropertychallenge and @blueskyexperiences teams for putting on such a fantastic event and raising funds for a very worthy cause: @horsetime.org.uk We are already looking forward to returning in 2024!

This week we had the pleasure of shooting a recently completed project with our frequent collaborators @zac.and.zac It is always hugely satisfying and a great honour to work with professionals who are able to capture the best of our projects. We are also excited to see our many years of hard work come to fruition! We would love to tell you more about the project but this will have to wait until the final shots are ready for publication. In the meantime, please enjoy these behind-the-scenes photos from the day.

Introducing team 007N - a crack team of architects ready to tackle the Scottish wilderness! This Friday, we will be sending two teams to the 2023 Buccleuch Property Challenge, a team-building adventure race in the grounds of Drumlanrig Castle. Over the course of six hours, the teams will tackle a variety of challenges, including: cross-country running, mountain biking, orienteering, and secret surprise activities! Each year is different and we can’t wait to see what is waiting for us this time. All funds raised by the challenge will go to the charity @horsetime.org.uk , a wonderful organisation that harnesses the psychological and emotional benefits of working with horses when in recovery from mental health difficulties and trauma. If you would like to contribute to this worthwhile cause, please visit: https://www.totalgiving.co.uk/mypage/bpchallenge23 We’d like to wish our teams and everyone who is competing good luck and a good wind behind them! @buccleuchpropertychallenge

A big thank you to @ocean_vertical for making our Practice Annual Meeting 2023 such a fantastic day! Last week we returned to this beautiful East Lothian steading for our annual gathering, where we reviewed the past twelve months and looked to the future. Following a morning of lively discussion about the work that we do, and what is in the pipeline, the team took part in an afternoon of exciting activities: coasteering, axe-throwing, archery, and cycle-touring! As ever, the team at Hedderwick Hill Stables were welcoming, helpful, and they made sure that everything ran smoothly. They have created a special venue where it is easy to get comfortable, enjoy some time away from the city, and try something new! We’d also like to thank @barbarellabeets, @bostockbakery, and @winewednesdaysnorthberwick for the wonderful food and drink!