Category: Edinburgh

Work to renovate the historic Ross Fountain was completed this afternoon as the last statue was crane-lifted into place. A mainstay in West Princes Street Gardens for more than 140 years, the A-listed Edinburgh landmark has been undergoing a £1.9m restoration since last July. The statue at the top of The Ross Fountain in West Princes Street Gardens was put back into place today marking the completion of the £1.9M renovation.

Buy t-shirts and prints of the Ross Fountain at Edinburgh Castle 

During the work a small crowd gathered to watch the lofty two-tonne statue being carefully dropped into its final position. It signalled the end of a meticulous repair job spearheaded by the Ross Development Trust and conducted by Wigan-based specialists Lost Art Ltd.

Vibrant new colour scheme for restored Ross Fountain Testing, ancillary works and landscaping still remain to be finished, with a final unveiling scheduled to take place in the next 5 or 6 weeks.

Among those in attendance was Lord Provost Frank Ross who seemed impressed with the restoration as the finishing touches were made. He said: “It’s fantastic. Once the scaffolding’s down and people get to see it, I really believe that the citizens of Edinburgh will get to love it”. Fiona MacDonald, Conservation Architect at Edinburgh World Heritage, who have helped to partly fund the project, said: “We’re delighted the project has now finally been delivered. It’s wonderful that it’s now here in all its glory”.

David Ellis, Managing Director the Ross Development Trust added: “It’s been almost a year since we were standing here taking her down and it’s been a huge amount of work but it honestly feels like it’s flown past. Seeing her go up though is obviously a fantastic moment, this is really the final piece of the puzzle. “They (Lost Art Ltd) have put in an incredibly strong foundation and a whole new modern pumping system, which will make sure there is no potential that the fountain will have to be switched off in the future – which is exactly what everyone wants. “What is most important is making sure it’s going to run properly for decades to come.”

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Read more at: https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/watch-ross-fountain-ready-to-flow-once-more-as-restoration-completed-1-4743385

Back in 2007 I was lucky enough to capture some pictures of the Earthrace trimaran in Leith Docks , Edinburgh . This trimaran raced around the  world in 65 days , powered by bio-diesel . It has a submarine design which allows it to cut through waves rather than over them. Earthrace has been criss-crossing the globe on the lookout for illegal fishing and hunting operations since 2006. The original boat was launched in 2006, and set a world record for round the world powerboat travel before it was destroyed in a collision with a Japanese whaling ship in 2010.

Now the development of Earthrace 2 has been announced . The team will attempt to create a new trimaran capable of assisting law enforcement on long-range, open-water missions.

Earthrace 2 is based on the original Earthrace and, like its predecessor, will run on renewable fuel but sport a Skysail Kite System for auxiliary power. When (or if) it sees the light of day, the new boat will serve as an operations base for the team’s missions battling wildlife crime around the world. Loaded up with a crew of 26, the larger vessel would support 28 day missions with a cruising range of 10,000 nautical miles (11,508 mi/18,520 km) at 12 knots (14 mph/22 km/h).

If it comes time to get into hot-pursuit mode, the 195-ft (60-m) boat could be pushed up to around 25 knots (29 mph/46 km/h). Alternatively, a 29-ft (9-m) Sealegs Amphibious Vessel and a Zodiac Dinghy would be hidden away within the hull, ready to be deployed if the team needs to board other boats on a mission.