Turley Associates Scotland secures permission for Taymouth Castle Estate
Press release: 27 June 2011
Planning and urban design consultancy Turley Associates has secured an important planning permission for the transformation of the historic Taymouth Castle Estate in Perthshire into a world class hotel and golfing resort.
The permission, granted on 22 June by Perth & Kinross Council, demonstrates that Scotland's planning reforms can work and are able to deliver major development schemes that provide significant economic benefits. The ability for the Taymouth project to move as expediently as it has is down to a positive working relationship between the project team and the planning officers at Perth & Kinross Council.
The permission granted will allow for the creation of an 81 bed, 5 star hotel in the restored and extended A-listed castle, a health and beauty spa, a separate Scandinavian spa, 160 new luxury holiday homes, a new smokehouse restaurant, state-of-the-art equestrian centre, renovations to the James Braid designed golf course, restoration of the Estate's historic monuments and extensive landscape management.
Taymouth Castle Estate owner Meteor has already investment millions of pounds on the restoration of the historic principal rooms and public areas in the castle. This decision will now allow for the next phase of work to begin.
Neil Martin, a director in the Scottish office of Turley Associates said: "We are delighted that permission for this scheme has been given the go-ahead. It is an important decision for Taymouth Castle Estate and for Perthshire as a whole. It will play a pivotal role in attracting visitors to the region and will be able to maximise opportunities that arise from the Ryder Cup in 2014."
Martin Mortimer, development manager at Taymouth Castle Estate added: "We are obviously delighted to have secured planning consent for this scheme. This allows us to move ahead with this exciting and important project.
"We are already in advanced negotiations with leading hotel operators and a world-leading spa company, which we will now be able to finalise with this consent. We also already have a lot of interest on the estate properties from potential buyers around the globe."
The lead architects for the scheme are Mckenzie Strickland Associates who have brought forward well thought through designs and layout for the Estate in what is a highly sensitive site given the numerous natural and cultural heritage designations that apply. Speaking at Committee, a number of the Councillors and officers commented very favourably over the quality of restoration work that has already been undertaken within the Castle that has all been specified and overseen by the Aberfeldy based Architects.
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About Turley Associates
Turley Associates is the UK's leading independent planning and urban design consultancy. The company operates from 10 offices - London, Southampton, Bristol, Cardiff, Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Belfast - and has market leading expertise in planning, urban design, masterplanning, sustainability and heritage. The company has a strong reputation in the residential, retail, infrastructure, energy, health, education, sports and leisure, waste, minerals and mining and financial sectors.