Cables Wynd House, better known as the Leith Banana Flats or the Banana Block because of its curved shape, is a nine-storey local authority housing block in

Leith Leith (; gd, Lìte) is a port area in the north of the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, founded at the mouth of the Water of Leith. In 2021, it was ranked by ''Time Out'' as one of the top five neighbourhoods to live in the world. The earliest ...

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

. The building, in fact, has ten storeys. The ground floor is called Cables Wynd and the nine floors above constitute Cables Wynd House. This often leads to confusion in postal and other services.

History

Under construction between 1962 and 1965, for many families the complex offered a welcome improvement over the overcrowding and

slum A slum is a highly populated urban residential area consisting of densely packed housing units of weak build quality and often associated with poverty. The infrastructure in slums is often deteriorated or incomplete, and they are primarily ...

housing conditions that were still common problems at the time. There is now extensive security in the building which includes a 24-hour manned concierge, key fob entry system and security camera system on every walkway and in each of the 4 lifts. The building is well maintained with walkways and lifts cleaned on a daily basis by council employees. In 2012, communal heating and other energy measures were installed by the

City of Edinburgh Council The City of Edinburgh Council is the local government authority for the city of Edinburgh, capital of Scotland. With a population of in mid-2019, it is the second most populous local authority area in Scotland. In its current form, the counci ...

Design

The building was designed by Alison & Hutchinson & Partners under the leadership of Robert Forbes Hutchinson. It contains 212 flats, which have a 24-hour

concierge A concierge () is an employee of a multi-tenant building, such as a hotel or apartment building, who receives guests. The concept has been applied more generally to other hospitality settings and to personal concierges who manage the errands of ...

service situated on the ground floor, and

CCTV Closed-circuit television (CCTV), also known as video surveillance, is the use of video cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place, on a limited set of monitors. It differs from broadcast television in that the signal is not openly ...

coverage. Most of the properties use deck access, but the ground floor flats are accessed via individual front doors. Some of these properties are preferentially allocated to older people, but in recent years many young families have been allocated larger flats in the building. All but five of the flats remain in public ownership . The entire building (along with the nearby Linksview House of similar design, though not curved) was awarded an 'A' listing by

Historic Environment Scotland Historic Environment Scotland (HES) ( gd, Àrainneachd Eachdraidheil Alba) is an executive non-departmental public body responsible for investigating, caring for and promoting Scotland's historic environment. HES was formed in 2015 from the mer ...

from January 2017, being cited as one of the best examples of '

brutalist Brutalist architecture is an architectural style that emerged during the 1950s in the United Kingdom, among the reconstruction projects of the post-war era. Brutalist buildings are characterised by Minimalism (art), minimalist constructions th ...

' architecture in Scotland. This is the highest rating which can be awarded to a building in Scotland.

Use in fiction

Irvine Welsh Irvine Welsh (born 27 September 1958) is a Scottish novelist, playwright and short story writer. His 1993 novel '' Trainspotting'' was made into a film of the same name. He has also written plays and screenplays, and directed several short fil ...

's '' Trainspotting'', the flats were the childhood home of the character Simon "Sick Boy" Williamson. In 2007, the block was used during filming of ''

Wedding Belles ''Wedding Belles'' is a Scottish-based British television drama film first broadcast on Channel 4 on 29 March 2007. Plot ''Wedding Belles'' centres around four young women struggling with personal issues, while preparing to throw one of their g ...

'', which was also created by Irvine Welsh.

References

Brutalist architecture in Scotland Buildings and structures in Leith Housing estates in Edinburgh Category A listed buildings in Edinburgh 1962 establishments in Scotland Public housing in Scotland Residential buildings completed in 1965 {{Scotland-struct-stub

History

Design

Use in fiction

See also

References