Developers plan to knock down the former HM Revenue & Customs building at 44 York Place and build a hotel instead (Ref. 13/04000/PAN).
Charlotte Square-based Mapeley/Consensus Capital Property Ltd will hold public pre-application consultations at McDonald Road Library on Tuesday, 5 November (5.00–8.00pm) and Friday, 8 November (10am–1pm).
The earliest date on which a planning application could be made is 12 December 2013.
The current No. 44 is sniffily dismissed in Gifford et al’s The Buildings of Scotland: Edinburgh (1983) as ‘a concrete-framed building by Covell Matthews & Partners, 1964, pushing irrelevantly between houses and church, and at odds with both.’
The same authors were unimpressed by CM&P’s Uberior House, 1972, for the Bank of Scotland on the Grassmarket. ‘It tries to fit in with the Old Town but its massive haarled stair towers are merely oafish’. They didn't like the ‘pseudo-rubble corner block’, 1966, on George Street or the 7-storey Haymarket House, 1969, on Clifton Terrace either. CM&P’s Trustee Savings Bank at the corner of Eyre Place and Dundas Street, 1982, they damned with faint praise first as a ‘warehouse’ and then as a ‘smart, rather crinkly parcel with pink string on top’.
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City of Edinburgh’s Archaeology Officer, John Lawson, considered the site – through which ran the former Broughton Burn and a possible lade stream – to be of ‘archaeological potential in terms of the later rural development of the Broughton area’. He has therefore insisted that ‘No development shall take place on the site until the applicant has secured the implementation of a programme of archaeological work (excavation, analysis & reporting, publication) in accordance with a written scheme of investigation which has been submitted by the applicant and approved by the Planning Authority.'
The New Town & Broughton Community Council welcomed the development, but recommended inclusion to the rear of a toddlers play area. Planning officers disagreed as the area would not be accessible to the general public.
A series of in-depth soil analyses was conducted at Council insistence to check for any hazardous contamination which may have occurred during the site’s past occupation. To the non-specialist these reports make interesting if somewhat alarming reading, but Spurtle is not qualified to comment knowledgeably upon them. We assume that any levels of contamination fall within acceptable standards, or that their effects can be mitigated by means of physical barriers.
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Spurtle’s initial concerns about the potential loss of affordable housing in the area (Breaking news, 12.3.13) have been partially placated since (Breaking news, 17.9.13).
Council conditions included: an archaeological survey, a revised drainage strategy, and adequate cycle parking.
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As reported in Issue 223 (p.2), Henderson Global Investors agent GVA Grimley Ltd will hold a public preapplication consultation meeting on the subject of their proposed ‘formation of a development site and erection of hotel with ground floor mixed uses and ancillary supporting infrastructure’ on land 63m south of 12 Picardy Place.
The meeting will take place in Café Camino (Little King Street) on Wednesday, 9 October, 2.00–7.30pm.
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Online details are almost non-existent at the moment. However, The List’s Eating & Drinking Guide 2013 identified ‘a sense of a slight identity crisis’ at this popular local venue, citing new ownership and a departure from the staff’s trademark Hawaiian shirts as evidence.
Will external signage alterations signal more of the same, a restatement of long-standing principles, or a new departure?
Tell us what you think about these or any other Broughton planning developments by email spurtle@hotmail.co.uk on Facebook Broughton Spurtle or Twitter @theSpurtle
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Broughton Spurtle @theSpurtle
@papawasarodeo Do you have a soft spot for No. 44 York Place?
@theSpurtle meh.