Proposals for the St Mary’s Music School adaptation of the old Royal High School will go before City of Edinburgh Council’s Development Management Sub-committee on Wednesday this week (Ref. 15/05662/FUL – be warned, the web link takes an age to open).
In a report to councillors (see foot of page), John Bury – Head of Planning and Transport – writes of the plans’ ‘potentially valuable contribution to the city’s cultural infrastructure’ and Scotland’s educational infrastructure.
The scheme would benefit Edinburgh’s economy, Bury continues, whilst safeguarding ‘the overall character and setting of the listed Hamilton building, the setting of surrounding listed buildings and monuments and the site’s conservation area setting’.
Support for the scheme
Director of Edinburgh World Heritage Adam Wilkinson is also backing the application’s ‘sensitive approach’ to setting. Writing to CEC’s World Heritage Coordinator Jenny Bruce in mid-February he wrote:
Having studied the applications, it is clear that the development team has continued with its approach to the building and site, and the result is a set of proposals that we have no hesitation in endorsing as an exemplary and thoughtful marriage of ancient and modern in the highly sensitive setting of Calton Hill, managing the relationship between Hamilton’s building, its immediate and wider setting in a way to both conserve and enhance Hamilton’s building. The proposals support the ambitions of the World Heritage Site Management Plan in terms of conservation and reuse but also in relation to the culture and sustainability of the city.
Other expressions of support have come from the Edinburgh Urban Design Panel (at an earlier stage back in 2015), the New Town & Broughton Community Council, and with a few reservations, Historic Environment Scotland.
Music school’s sound business case
In a joint statement earlier this year, Dr Kenneth Taylor, Headteacher at St Mary’s Music School and William Gray Muir, Chairman of The Royal High School Preservation Trust, told Spurtle of the scheme’s sound business credentials, and an educational ethos based on merit not elitism:
Thanks to the support and commitment of Dunard Fund, the plans are fully funded for St Mary’s Music School to move to the former Royal High School building in Edinburgh and for the future upkeep of the building. On an ongoing basis, the school is funded by fees (see below), private donations and rental income. The move would enable the school to sell Coates Hall, its current home, which would place the school on a secure financial base for the future. The high profile location will make the school more visible in Scotland, the UK and internationally, enhancing the city’s musical credentials as a cultural centre of excellence.
In line with the prospective plans for the move to the former Royal High School, a robust business plan has been prepared by the school, which has given the School’s Directors confidence that such a move could actually enhance its financial position.
As Scotland’s only independent specialist music school, we are not just a school for Edinburgh, but one for the whole of Scotland with our pupils coming from across the nation and beyond, all taken on musical ability and potential regardless of personal circumstances. The school offers a world class standard of music and academic education to musically gifted children aged 9-19 years. Scottish Government funding, up to 100 per cent, is available through the Aided Places Scheme to assist parents with the cost of tuition and boarding fees. Cathedral and School Bursaries are also available. St Mary’s Music School promotes engagement with the wider community and extends in-depth learning in music to children from other schools as part of its outreach programme.
A move to the Royal High School building would allow the school to extend this work. Thanks to the support and commitment of Dunard Fund, the plans are fully funded for St Mary’s Music School to move to the former Royal High School building in Edinburgh and for the future upkeep of the building. On an ongoing basis, the school is funded by fees (see below), private donations and rental income. The move would enable the school to sell Coates Hall, its current home, which would place the school on a secure financial base for the future. The high profile location will make the school more visible in Scotland, the UK and internationally, enhancing the city’s musical credentials as a cultural centre of excellence.
Time to get a grip
When councillors (just) rejected plans for a luxury hotel on this site in December 2015, many in Edinburgh breathed a sigh of relief.
It was surely the right decision, arrived at after painstaking deliberations in which elected representatives swithered between aesthetics, pragmatism, potential profits and the difficulty of preserving a sense of place with precious little money in the coffers.
The decision before councillors on Wednesday is more straightforward. There are clear and widely acknowledged gains to be had here for the old Royal High School and its setting, and for an enhanced music school we could all be proud of.
And as well as that, councillors have a chance to make a major statement about this city’s future.
They’ve already shown that they can hold their nerve and say no. Now they need to show they can be bold and say yes, rationally embracing change for the better without sacrificing the best and most loved aspects of Edinburgh’s past.
Got a view? Tell us at spurtle@hotmail.co.uk and @theSpurtle and Facebook
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@theSpurtle Though, with council contract & appeal still ongoing, Wednesday's decision doesn't mean music school would go ahead...
@alistairkgrant Quite. Balls in the air everywhere. Worse than the High Street.
@theSpurtle puts Council in an interesting spot if it grants the music school, as CEC has contract with hotel Devs & an appeal at Scot Govt
@theSpurtle Often overlooked that the music school plan is entirely speculative, not even among original 54 bidders for redeveloping site.
@theSpurtle Council itself contracted DHP to deliver hotel and they have until 2022 to gain permission.
@theSpurtle Music school approval might just provide template for scaled back and planning-friendly approach to new hotel design.