Burgh architect set to unveil Trump card

Fiona Howard 1564 - 1564 • Published 1 Feb 2009 08:30

MULTI-MILLIONAIRE businessman Donald Trump has chosen a Helensburgh man to design his highly controversial golf development in Aberdeenshire.

Helensburgh architect Gareth Hoskins, whose award winning company has worked on projects as diverse as the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the Bridge Arts Centre in Easterhouse, the Scottish Pavilion in Venice, the Battlefield Visitor Centre at Culloden and Robin House Children"s Hospice has been appointed by Trump to work on the non-golf element of the Trump International Golf Links course.

The whole project has caused controversy and political storms since it was first mooted.

As well as two championship golf courses, it includes a five star luxury hotel and a whole new community of private houses.

It"s situated on a 1,400 acre stretch on the Menie Estate in Aberdeenshire and takes in the world famous Balmedie Beach with its rolling sand dunes and extensive wild life.

And this week, 41-year-old Gareth who lives with his wife and children in East Montrose Street, admitted that when the approach came from the Trump project team the decision on whether or not to accept was debated long and hard in the offices of Gareth Hoskins Architects.

Gareth who, at the end of last year, became the first architect to win a Glenfiddich Spirit of Scotland Award, said: 'We want to see how we can make this a model for a very stustainable community and lift the game on the project. It will be quite a challenge and we will work very carefully with the landscape thinking of this as a whole community.

'We want to retain access to the beach and really embrace the environmental side of this whole project. We believe that if it is going to happen then it is better that it happens well.'

Gareth and his team were in London recently for the opening of the Gareth Hoskins Architects 0-10 Years Exhibition which is on at the Gallery of the Royal Institute of British Architects in London for a five week run.

The exhibition, which is curated by Hugh Pearman, is the first in a series of architectural monographs produced by The Lighthouse in Glasgow to celebrate rising Scottish architectural talent and it is accompanied by a 'coffee table book' featuring many of the firm"s projects in its first 10 years.

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This article appeared in Helensburgh Advertiser 29 Jan 09

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