History of North Edinburgh lays future foundations at Pennywell

Pupils from Craigroyston Primary School with the time capsule at Pennywell Living

Memorabilia belonging to primary pupils and retired residents in North Edinburgh has been buried in the foundations of new homes under construction in Pennywell.

The housing is being developed by the City of Edinburgh Council in partnership with regeneration firm Urban Union at the Pennywell Living development in Muirhouse.

Primary 5 pupils at Craigroyston Primary School and residents of Bield’s Brookwell Court Retirement Housing development were asked by Urban Union to collect items they felt best represented the local area in 2018. The items would then be homed in a time capsule to be discovered by future generations of the local area.

Photographs, football match tickets, books, coins and food wrappers were amongst the items secured in a special time capsule that was buried in the foundations of the second phase of the Pennywell Living development during a special event that took place on 18 April 2018.

Lesley Boyd, deputy head teacher at Craigroyston Primary School, said: “We were really pleased when Urban Union invited us to take part in the time capsule activity, as the pupils had been asking to do one for some time. Working with older members of the community was a great learning opportunity for our pupils. They were able to compare items such as books, tickets and photographs that they had selected with those of the older residents and see how they had changed over the years.”

Kirsty Robertson from Urban Union said: “The time capsule activity forms an important part of Urban Union’s commitment to engaging with the local community at Pennywell Living. By including items from young and older members of the community, we hope that the time capsule will offer future generations a real sense of what the community was like today.”

Urban Union has a wide selection of modern affordable homes and apartments available at the development.

The City of Edinburgh Council has homes for social and mid-market rent at Pennywell. Phase 2 is currently under construction with a range of houses and flats available over the next few months.

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