Craigievar House Update

The spring and summer have seen an increase in anti-social behaviour at Craigievar House, the future of which remains uncertain even three years after the fire. 

The Lib Dem team have repeatedly raised these concerns with the Council, with Touchstone and with the Community Policing team. After a number of residents raised further concerns, local Lib Dem councillor Ed Thornley contacted Touchstone to ask them to resecure the building. 

Touchstone have now done so, and have made the following changes to improve the building; 

 - A number of damaged second floor windows had been smashed, and several permanently damaged - these have now been secured with steel panels

 - They found the main access point to be a drainpipe being used to access a second floor window - all the drainpipes have had anti-climb protection added to them

 - The portable security cameras have now been replace with permanent CCTV, and the locks on the steel doors have been replaced

The new CCTV in particular has enabled the security team to respond quickly and they have been able to chase people off-site on a number of occasions. 

Finally, the Community Policing team have promised to make more frequent visits to the site on their patrols. 

Ed Thornley said, "On the building’s future, we have been clear with both the Council and Touchstone that Craigievar House remaining empty three whole years after the fire is unacceptable. The displaced residents are still scattered widely across the city, and the lack of progress in giving them long-term certainty is a complete failure on Touchstone’s part. Communication, both with residents and local councillors, has been abysmal.

“The latest update we received was that a report on ‘options’ for the building’s future was to go to the Board of Places for People Scotland, and we were promised the details of that ‘soon’. Over a month later, we have still heard nothing. If the building is to be restored and brought back into use, then that needs to happen swiftly. If not, then residents displaced by the fire and those in neighbouring streets deserve to know what is planned.”