Granton Harbour, part of the waterfront in the North of Edinburgh, has been shortlisted for the Plook on the Plinth Award for the "Most Dismal Town in Scotland." The Plook is the most significant of the three Carbuncle awards run by architecture magazine Prospect since 2000 to "provoke debate about the poor quality of development in many of Scotland’s towns and cities."
The other two categories are The Zit Award for "Most Disappointing Building" and The Pock Mark Award for "The worst planning decision" - which, again, Granton is up for.
Three Granton property owners, Forth Ports, Waterfront Edinburgh Ltd, and the National Grid are developing the 346 acre brownfield site along the waterfront with around 8,500 residential units (mostly flats). At Granton Harbour, Forth Properties have planning consent to develop up to 3,396 units.
The project, say Carbuncle nominators, is being sold as a trendy alternative to living in the Edinburgh New Town when in fact the accommodation is really "cheap rabbit hutches erected to take advantage of the property boom."
In its bid for the Plook, Granton is up against Glasgow Springfield Quay, Glasgow Oatlands, Coatbridge Town Centre, Cumbernauld Town Centre, and Cumnock.
Previous winners have been Airdrie and Cumbernauld.
Nominees for the Carbuncle Awards were chosen by members of the public. You can vote on the shortlist for the awards at www.thecarbuncles.co.uk.