Gavieside Village
West Lothian
Status
RIBA Stage 2
Client
Persimmon Homes East Scotland
Collective Strategy has developed ambitious plans for Gavieside Village, West Lothian for Persimmon Homes East Scotland in association with LUC and Dougall Baillie Associates and wider consultant team. The application for Planning Permission in Principle was validated by West Lothian Council at the end of February 2025.
Gavieside Village provides a huge opportunity for West Lothian. It marries people, place and environment in line with local and national policy around local living, active travel and ecology. It is a new, distinctive neighbourhood of 2800 homes, rooted in its history and landscape, offering low impact living and sustainable enterprise opportunities for residents and visitors alike. Persimmon and the team have taken a joined up, blue-green infrastructure approach to development to create a new neighbourhood of rural character with links to ecology that is rooted in place.
Persimmon approached Collective Architecture to ensure the development would be at the forefront of best practice and NPF ambitions. Particularly ensuring drainage and landscape were integrated to deliver place-making opportunities whilst maintaining commercial viability and deliverability over time. The project builds on Collective’s NPF4-leading strategic work at Ladyfield, Dumfries and Edinburgh’s Granton Waterfront (with LUC) which holistically integrate communities, landscapes and development.
Situated in West Lothian, the site sits within Scotland’s central belt and is accessible by the national rail and road network. It is part of the West Livingston Core Development Area (CDA), allocated within West Lothian’s Local Development Plan. The site is home to agricultural fields, remnants of its past mining industry and is bounded by natural watercourses including the River Almond, West Calder Burn and Harwood Water. It has strong links and connections to Livingstone and West Calder which include the fabulous Shale Trail.
The site is also home to a range of physical considerations, which include the former mine-workings and contaminated land. There is also an existing pipeline within the site with a defined ‘no-build’ zone and wider ‘low risk’ area that limits the type of development that can be provided there.
The approach for Gavieside Village is formed around a characterful village centre, green-blue routes and associated parks and open space. It integrates new homes with their surroundings,landscape and key active travel corridors.
