Unearthed footage from 1997 has been found online, showing the Greendykes area before its extensive regeneration.
The video was uploaded to YouTube by Craigmillar Gold, mostly filmed from the top of the high flats. For much of the film, we watch as fire crews tackle a blaze in the low-rise buildings that have since been razed to the ground.
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Down on street level, we see youths playing on hay bales in nearby fields - most of which are now empty grasslands. Filmed on March 11, 1997, the footage shows a very different Greendykes to the one we see today.
The blaze which we see in the footage saw one resident lose their life. The Aberdeen Press & Journal wrote the following day: “An elderly man has died following a house fire in the Greendykes area of Edinburgh on Saturday.
“Lothian and Borders Police said the man had not yet been formally identified.”
One elderly resident of the building lost his life during the blaze (Image: YouTube - Craigmillar Gold)
The area during the ‘90s had earned a reputation throughout the city, with the estate seeing one of the worst riots that Edinburgh has ever seen in 1994. Hundreds of youths took over the area, pelting police officers with stones and bottles while torching cars
The riots lasted a full 48 hours, with six officers injured. Lothian & Borders Police said at the time that the scenes had erupted from the arrest of a local youth a few days prior.Greendykes was ranked as the fourth most deprived area in Scotland, by the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation of 2006. A few years later, the low-rise flats were demolished and rebuilt to an extent.
The regeneration of Greendykes is a familiar concept, with the area sitting as farmland up until the ‘40s when the first housing development came. This was demolished in the ‘60s, replaced with the flats which stood until they were torn down in the late ‘00s.
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While crime has not been completely eradicated from the area, Greendykes is a far cry away from the district it once was. Earlier this year, it was announced that the City of Edinburgh Council had received funding from the Scottish Government to build 130 homes in the area.
£260,000 was given to help prepare the site, which is set to see the net-zero carbon homes built where Greendykes Gardens used to stand. Part of the government’s Vacant & Derelict Land Investment Programme, the homes should be ready by early 2024.
The footage was filmed on March 11, 1997 (Image: YouTube - Craigmillar Gold)
Housing convener Jane Meagher said of the development: “Never has our need for better housing been greater, as we face a cost of living crisis and climate emergency.
“For years, developers have overlooked this empty piece of land because of how complex it is to unlock. Yet, it’s situated minutes away from the Innocent Railway cycle path and is close to the Royal Infirmary and local employment.
“The area benefits from countless bus links to the city centre and is a fantastic place to live. I’m thrilled that we’re going to be able to put the green back into Greendykes.”
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