Silk Mill, Dundee Street

Location

Edinburgh

Main contractor

Watkin Jones

Architects

Fletcher Joseph Associates

Products

Solus Brick Range

Overview

The new Novel Student Accommodation, Silk Mill, was designed by Fletcher Joseph Associates to create additional housing for students at Edinburgh Napier University and the University of Edinburgh. With a total of 225 bedrooms in a variety of cluster flats and studios, the scheme is situated west of the city centre in the Fountainbridge area, a walkable distance to both universities that also provides residents with easy access to shops, cafes, restaurants and bars.

Completed in December 2021, the £16m project was managed by Watkin Jones Group for client CA Ventures. Taylor Maxwell worked closely with the main contractors to supply the Carsington Cream brick from our solus range, as well as the smooth white facing bricks used across the facade.

Concept to Completion

The scheme is located in Fountainbridge, an up-and-coming business and leisure district west of Edinburgh’s city centre that has been going through a redevelopment over the past few years. The redevelopment has brought plenty of businesses to the area including a multiplex cinema, a children’s soft play centre, restaurants and multiple student accommodation buildings that encourage both, national and international students to use all of the new amenities in the area.

The accommodation was designed to contain all amenities within one singular block including boutique rooms and state of the art facilities such as a gym, gaming rooms and on-site bike storage. The facade design used a combination of facing bricks, stone and brass effect cladding to provide a modern and dynamic aesthetic. By using cream and white facing bricks in combination with the metallic cladding and stone, the architects have created a sense of connection throughout the block.

The Carsington Cream brick from our solus range was selected for its ability to combine seamlessly with the palette of other materials selected by the architects. Our solus range, comprising of 23 facing bricks, is specifically tailored to social and private housing developments like Silk Milk. Produced exclusively for Taylor Maxwell by industry leading manufacturers, the range includes an assortment of bricks in a variety of colours and finishes that are suited to the local vernacular of regions all across the UK and work in harmony with many other facade materials.