New luxury-hotel plans have been unveiled for the old Royal High School building on Regent Road, and a planning application has been submitted.
Architect Gareth Hoskins says they represent a considered response to the reception which greeted plans at the public consultation stage earlier this year.
The existing Hamilton building would be restored and entirely given over to the public areas of a new hotel, managed by Rosewood Hotels and Resorts.
The bedrooms would be sited in two ‘organically shaped’ wings with landscaped terraces and an ‘undulating copper façade’.
The whole scheme, including restoration, conversion and new build is fully funded to the tune of £75 million.
Hoskins describes the revised proposals as ‘inspired by the layered volcanic landscape of both Calton Hill and nearby Salisbury Crags, [allowing] the new wings to blend with the surrounding hill’.
Rosewood currently runs 18 hotels around the world, including The Carlyle in New York, the Hôtel de Crillon in Paris, and the Castiglion del Bosco in Tuscany.
Gordon Dewar, chief executive of Edinburgh Airport and a VisitScotland board member describes Rosewood’s interest as a potential game-changer for Scottish tourism: ‘A world-class hotel will attract a new level of interest and economic activity that will benefit everyone with a stake in the visitor economy’.
Figures produced by Oxford Economics for the developers Duddingston House Properties and Urbanist Hotels suggest the scheme would create up to 260 new jobs in the hotel itself, a further 310 in the supply chain, and another 270 in the tourism industry over the next 10 years.
This could apparently contribute £31.5 million to Edinburgh’s GDP, and £36.7 million to Scotland’s economy on an annual basis.
We will return to this subject shortly, once we've had time to look in more detail at the plans and gather our thoughts. In the meantime, we're very interested to know what you think.
Got a view? Tell us at spurtle@hotmail.co.uk and @theSpurtle and Facebook
For background to this story, see:
16 Jan. 'Time to fix Edinburgh's disgrace?'
19 Jan. 'Looking on the bright side'
4 Feb. 'Dark register and Royal High School's hidden at-risk status'
5 Feb. 'Council decision making slated as Royal High School plans go on display'
16 Feb. 'New light on "Dark" Register'
24 Feb. 'Critics slam Royal High School Plans'
6 Mar. 'New views on old Royal High'
9 Mar. 'Grigor damns Royal High plans'
25 Mar. '"Dark Register" all lit up'
15 Apr. 'New tune for old Royal High'
23 Apr. 'Latest news on old Royal High'
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@theSpurtle only response I can think of is: 'fingers crossed'. These are still awful. Just a very little slightly less awful
oldRoyalHigh retweeted Broughton Spurtle
If @gordon_dewar can identify "world class" why isn't Edinburgh Airport?
Robin Gillanders Selling the family silver. It must stay in the public sector. Surely?
Bill Dunlop Hmm. VERY mixed feelings about this one. At first glance it looks like a slight improvement on the previous offering, but copper-clad wings, 'unduating' or otherwise don't suggest 'sympathetic response' to this old codger. It's essentially an attempt to bolt a modern development onto a building that was very cannily designed to make a statement about its location. Oh, and if it does get permission, will CoE Council make a contribution to properly housing the Hill/Adamson and other early photographic collections of NMS? Rather suspect not.
Corneilius Pierce I love it... Compare that to the St. James golden turd.
Pamela Dobbie I like it for a change! It seems to nestle into the hillside and doesn't impinge on the high school
Gary Kerr Not impressed.
Euan MacGuzzi McGlynn even worse than the last plans, give it to St Marys music school.
papa was a rodeo @papawasarodeo
papa was a rodeo retweeted Broughton Spurtle
I'd hazard that Crillon/Carlyle is going to prove exceedingly seductive to some of Edinburgh's councillors.
@theSpurtle what happened to the idea of it housing the music school - or did I dream that?
@theSpurtle *Mutters oath. Attempts to return to happy dream*
Marta Mcglynn Even more architecturally illiterate than the original proposals.
Beth Thomson past caring, just do something with it!
Donald Henderson I would lose the overhang on the west wing of the building, the remainder of it looks quite good. As a previous poster has said, it demonstrates that modern architecture can be designed to be striking while still fitting in a classical urban environment.
@MasterMelrose @theSpurtle I'd really like the #Leith Walk candidates to say what they think. None have.
@CityCycling @MasterMelrose @theSpurtle @susan4leithwalk @scotgp the site's in the City Centre Ward not Leith Walk
@jomowat @theSpurtle @CityCycling @MasterMelrose @susan4leithwalk @scotgp Yes, but cllrs throughout the city involved in planning decisions.
Marquis Melrose @MasterMelrose
@CityCycling @theSpurtle Hmmm. Not feeling very optimistic about that from any of them.
@oldscotbooks @theSpurtle @Edinburgh_CC True. I'm old fashioned. I think there's more to life (& a city) than money.
@MasterMelrose @theSpurtle @Edinburgh_CC Absolutely. Pity nobody in the Clowncil seems to agree ... #worsethanuseless
David Sterratt retweeted Broughton Spurtle
Looking on the bright side, the proposed wings can be demolished in 40 years once they're life expired.