Alternative plans for the future of the old Royal High School became a little clearer today with a counter-bid for the building and announcements about the architects who would be employed.
The Royal High School Preservation Trust (RHSPT) revealed this morning that it has made a formal legal offer to buy the site from City of Edinburgh Council for £1.5m. This figure, it says, exceeds the value CEC has so far attributed to it.
The sum is a minor part of a much larger financial pledge from the charitable Dunard Trust, to pay for all the costs of conserving Hamilton’s building, and for creating new structures around it that it says would preserve the original’s character and historic significance.
The total sum involved has not been made public.
The aim is to rehouse St Mary’s Music School here in larger and enhanced premises, whilst simultaneously extending Edinburgh’s available space for public performances and events.
Architects brought onboard
Also announced today were the names of the architects who will be involved.
Richard Murphy will lead, bringing to the project his practice’s experience in handling education and arts buildings. 'This is a wonderful site, an exceptionally important building and a delightful client and brief,' he said in a press release. 'What architect could not relish such a prospect?'
Conservation architects Simpson & Brown will work in partnership with Richard Murphy. S&B's John Sanders described the project as ‘a wonderful opportunity to combine creativity with scholarship’.
RHSPT Chair William Gray Muir, pictured (left) with headteacher Dr Kenneth Taylor, commented: ‘The community response that our proposals have so far received has been phenomenal, with almost 100% of people surveyed at two public events telling us that they support the Trust’s vision for the old Royal High School.
‘We will continue to consult as part of this process and plan to present an update on our designs within weeks’.
Timing of the announcement
In the weeks since the music-school proposals were first announced to the New Town & Broughton Community Council (13 May), and later expanded at a public exhibition (20 June), we understood that the RHSPT intended to keep a relatively low profile until the plans of Duddingston House Properties and the Urbanist Group had been either consented or rejected.
So why today's fanfare?
A spokesperson told us this lunchtime that it was in response to overwhelming public enthusiasm for the plans outlined so far, and a wish to prove to supporters that progress was being made behind the scenes.
Spurtle suspects that it has as much to do with maintaining momentum in the battle for hearts and minds. Today's announcement will grab headlines without dragging the RHSPT into an unseemly scrap with those backing the hotel proposal.
Local connections
Richard Murphy’s important projects include conversions of the Tolbooth in Stirling, the Eastgate theatre in Peebles, and the John Muir Birthplace Centre in Dunbar. However, he is best known in Broughton for the love-it-or-loathe-it ‘book-end’ house on Hart Street.
Simpson & Brown have a long and distinguished portfolio, but will be most familiar to locals for their recent involvement in the recording, dismantlement and rebuilding of Botanic Cottage.
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Bill Dunlop Great news. If the architects could also create appropriate space for the conservation and display of early Scottish photography now the Adamson house is no longer available, it would be even greater.
oldRoyalHigh retweeted Broughton Spurtle
I may not exactly be a damsel in distress but this is definitely a knight in shining armour