Posted on 12 Mar 2009

PARC and The City of Edinburgh Council have been recognised by the Excellence in Regeneration Awards 2009 for their work in Craigmillar, Edinburgh.

The organisations were highly commended at the awards ceremony, hosted at the 2009 Chartered Institute of Housing Scottish Conference in Aberdeen earlier this week. The accolade was presented by Alex Neil MSP, Minister for Housing and Communities.

John Quinn, general manager at PARC said: “This is another excellent achievement for the Craigmillar project. The award criteria included ‘developing a sense of place’ and ‘evidence of partnership working’ and we have been putting all our efforts into accomplishing this in Craigmillar. Great progress has already been made in the area and we continue to work with the local community to deliver this important project.”

Councillor Gordon Mackenzie, Chair of PARC, said: "This is a tremendous achievement highlighting all the hard work put in by the community, the Council and PARC for the regeneration of Craigmillar. PARC delivers real benefits to Craigmillar and makes a major contribution to the city by providing much-needed affordable homes. We were up against some strong competition for this award and it is excellent to have been highly commended."

PARC is the company spearheading the £200 million regeneration of Craigmillar, a 15 year programme of development to deliver new homes, schools, town centre and public space.

The Chartered Institute of Housing Scottish Conference took place in Aberdeen from 10th – 12th March.

Ends 12 March 2009

Issued on behalf of PARC by Weber Shandwick, public relations consultants. For more information, interviews and images contact Jennifer McMahon or Richard Bright on 0131 556 6649 or 07770 886 925 / 914.

Notes to Editors: PARC

PARC (www.parccraigmillar.co.uk) is a joint venture company which brings developers The EDI Group and The City of Edinburgh Council together with groups and representatives from the local Craigmillar community.

PARC is spearheading the regeneration of Craigmillar, involving a total investment of around £200 million. For Craigmillar, PARC wants to achieve:

• Quality, affordable new homes promoted and sold under the ParcLife name.
• New primary schools - including a joint primary schools campus at The Square.
• A new community high school and library located in the town centre.
• A new, revitalised town centre providing some 300,000 sq ft of space for commercial and retail development.
• A network of public parks bringing together 150 acres of green space.
• More local job and career opportunities.
• Improved learning and leisure facilities for young people.
• Better transport linkages and traffic calming measures.

For further information on ParcLife, please call 0845 220 5000 or visit www.parclife.co.uk