Your weekly Edinburgh buildings, planning, streets and neighbourhoods news, w/e July 31
In today’s edition:
‘Super hostel’ plan ‘broadly’ approved, on appeal;
First steps completed at The Causey;
North Bridge expected to fully reopen later today;
What to do with the fire-damaged Debenhams building?;
Business group leader urges Visitor Levy money to be spent on city centre streets;
Edinburgh Trams: passenger numbers up, revenue up, but losses also up;
Muriel Spark monument to be an abstract design;
£8.5m funding boost for Art Works project;
Litter picks, on Sunday and Tuesday;
Refurbishment plans for Portobello swim centre ‘moving forward’;
Summerhall road junction redesign gets short shrift from cyclists;
Event to examine west city neighbourhood projects;
Flats proposal submitted for house in Merchiston;
Subscriber numbers and the opportunity to share;
Road closure at Holyrood Park; and
Enjoy, see you next Friday!
‘Super hostel’ plan ‘broadly’ approved, on appeal
A PROPOSAL to convert a row of former offices on Atholl Crescent, into what is being described as a ‘super-hostel’, has been ‘broadly’ approved - on appeal, by the Scottish Government.
The appeal concerned a two-part planning application (here, ref: 25/04915/FUL and here, ref: 25/04916/LBC), which the developers chose to appeal on December 17, the exact same date of a city council Development Management sub-committee meeting, which would have ordinarily considered the applications but did not include them on its agenda.
The appeal was on ‘failure to give a decision grounds’.
The first application received 281 objections (here); the second 267 (here).
The proposal is for essentially ‘pod accommodation’.
Said background papers, here, in the original planning application: “The hotel will utilise a capsule hotel concept, where individual sleeping pods will be grouped into 78 guestrooms each containing a number of private capsules or double beds. These along with additional double bed chambers will result in a total of approximately 544 beds.”
The appeal (here, ref: PPA-230-2699) was ‘broadly’ approved last Friday - with some parts refused (here).
THE BBC reports anger at the decision, here. As does the Edinburgh Evening News (here). Scottish Housing News website also reports the decision (here).
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First steps completed at The Causey
A LONG-held ambition to reconfigure a traffic island on West Crosscauseway - into a more ‘civic space’ (The Causey) - has taken its first step, with a reversal of its one-way traffic flow.
However, during a five-to-ten minute spell at 1.45pm today, BuildEdinburgh witnessed three occasions where confusion appeared to reign.
Despite at least three ‘no entry’ signs (including two on the ground), one car entered the street, when it shouldn’t have, from Clerk Street.
And two vehicles turned right - again, against instructions - from West Crosscauseway into Clerk Street.
The works story was picked up last week by the Edinburgh Evening News newspaper, here.
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North Bridge expected to fully reopen later today
AFTER years of road and pavement closures - to allow for restoration work - North Bridge is expected to be fully reopened later today (so long as the rain holds off to allow for road markings to be painted).
Meanwhile, it is being reported that there are no plans to reinstate bus stops on North Bridge when it is finally reopened (with the race on to complete the work by today or tomorrow).
Reported Rachel Fergusson, last week: “The [council in a reply to a post on X, formerly Twitter] said the eight years of works on the bridge had ‘provided an opportunity to observe bus operations’, and that the current provision with buses only stopping on South Bridge has worked well for the network in the city centre.”
Fergusson adds: “The [council also] said improvements to [neighbouring] South Bridge will be subject to consultation in the coming months.”
Read more, here.
However, on Monday, the Edinburgh Minute website’s Michael MacLeod wrote, here: “While I’m still waiting for evidence from the council on how the decision to remove bus stops was taken, I’m told there was no new accessibility impact assessment on removing bus stops because there was already an arrangement in place for the duration of the North Bridge project, supported by Lothian Buses.
“The council is said to be reviewing the situation and willing to make any necessary adjustments once the bridge reopens. Hoping to get a comment from the council on this week.”
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What to do with the fire-damaged Debenhams building?
IN Saturday’s edition of the Edinburgh Evening News newspaper, the city council’s Transport committee convener, Cllr Stephen Jenkinson, was quoted - here - saying the fire-damaged former Debenhams building on Princes Street should be demolished, essentially to allow the road to be reopened as soon as possible.
Do you agree?
On the continent, there is a well-established tradition of building exact replicas of destroyed buildings.
And of course, a modern replacement could be the subject of an open design competition.
The city council is providing updates - here.
To the question, Will the building be knocked down?, the council replies: “It is a B-listed historical building. We’re trying to preserve as much of it as possible, but it is too early to tell how much can be saved.”
And to the question, Who will pay for this work?, it replies: “Under the Building (Scotland) Act, we’ll seek to recover costs incurred by the council in carrying out these urgent works from the building owners in due course.”
It is understood that the affected part of Princes Street will remain closed for at least three further weeks, with a late piece of news emerging: an ornate staircase within the building apparently escaped the flames.
Meanwhile, a history of the building (and that particular stretch of Princes Street) has been penned by local history writer, Andy Arthur, on his Threadinburgh website, here.
And on Wednesday, The Herald newspaper ran a story - here - claiming the Scottish Government had yet to commit to providing ‘emergency funding’ for the building, despite a reported request from the city council leader.
Plus, yesterday, the same newspaper reported that the building’s owners “would not be drawn” on whether it would pay the full cost of any work relating to demolition.
Adds the newspaper, here: “They also did not comment when asked if the company will continue development of the site, which caught fire overnight on July 9, once it is safe to do so.”
Today, the same newspaper, was reporting (here) that the removal of gas cylinders - identified by the Health and Safety Executive - appears to have eliminated that possible cause of the fire.
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Business group leader urges Visitor Levy money to be spent on city centre streets
AN appeal to spend money - raised by charging visitors for overnight stays in Edinburgh - on ‘upgrading’ Princes Street and George Street has reportedly been made by the head of a city centre business representative group.
Roddy Smith, chief executive of Essential Edinburgh, is quoted in the Edinburgh Evening News, here, as saying: “There's no excuse now, because there is a pot of money there to do it."
He was referring to the Visitor Levy, which came into effect last Friday.
The levy is expected to raise £45-50 million a year by 2028/29.
In February, city councillors agreed a package of levy funding worth over £90 million over the next three years, as detailed here.
At the special, Visitor Levy meeting of the council in February (here), it was also agreed that some additional projects will be considered in 2027/28 (subject to agreement by the relevant council committees).
Following a workshop scheduled for September, councillors are expected to consider the next stage in the ‘Princes Street and Waverley Valley strategy’, including what to do with any unallocated levy monies.
Edinburgh Trams: passenger numbers up, revenue up, but losses also up
SOME 12.5m passengers used Edinburgh’s tram network last year - according to the company’s 2025 annual accounts, just published, here.
The figure is a record high for the trams network: up 3.3 per cent on the previous year, 2024, itself a record high.
And, in a similar vein, revenue had also gone up: £33.1m last year, up from £28.9m in 2024.
But losses are also mounting - not least because of an annual leasing (of ‘assets’ such as the track) payment to the city council.
In an useful summary, The Herald’s Josh Pizzuto-Pomaco reports on the tap-on, tap-off system, online sales, a new governance structure, energy costs, the value of assets, staff wages and a ‘golden goodbye’ to the former chief executive (now at Blackpool Transport).
Read him, here.
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Muriel Spark memorial to be an abstract design
A MEMORIAL to the late writer, Muriel Spark - planned for Princes Street Gardens, the first of its kind in the gardens honouring a woman - is going to be abstract rather than figurative.
Still to receive planning permission, the memorial design has been explained by its artist, Jacqueline Donachie, in a feature on the Edinburgh Inquirer website, here.
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£8.5m funding boost for Art Works project
A NATIONAL Galleries of Scotland project - to be built in Granton - has received £8.5m from The National Lottery, to enable construction work to go ahead.
The Art Works - believed to become the largest cultural building in Scotland designed to the exacting energy efficiency standard, Passivhaus - will allow the National Galleries of Scotland to put on show an estimated 130,000 items.
Read more, here on the National Galleries of Scotland website.
The story is picked up by, among others, ProjectScotland.com, here, and Museums Journal, here.
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Litter picks, on Sunday and Tuesday
A LITTER pick is taking place on Sunday, at Victoria Park.
It kicks off at 2.30pm and is being organised by ‘Friends’ of the park.
And there’s a second litter pick taking place: this time on Tuesday, beginning at Henderson Gardens Park, in Leith, before moving on to nearby Yardheads / Giles Street.
It begins at 7pm and is being organised by Edinburgh Trash Club.
Kit provided.
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Refurbishment plans for Portobello swim centre ‘moving forward’
A 90-plus per cent approval rating has given the city’s sport and leisure organisation, Edinburgh Leisure, the confidence to ‘move forward’ with plans to refurbish Portobello swim centre.
Says Edinburgh Leisure, here: “[A] consultation, carried out independently during May and June, gathered views from customers, user groups and local residents. It found that 91 per cent of respondents support investment in the centre, while 95 per cent recognise it as an important community asset.”
The story is picked up by The Edinburgh Reporter website, here.
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Summerhall road junction redesign gets short shrift from cyclists
THE redesign of a road junction - at Summerhall - has angered many cyclists, if the responses to a city council social media post are anything to go by.
It follows the posting of a video - here - on the council’s Bluesky account.
And the design also gets pretty short shrift on the eNewsletter, Edi.Bike - here.
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Event to examine west city neighbourhood projects
MAJOR neighbourhood projects earmarked for west Edinburgh are to be the subject of an event being hosted by the city’s Chamber of Commerce.
Begins the promotional blurb: “West Edinburgh is undergoing one of the most significant transformation programmes in the UK, with a cluster of major developments reshaping the area into a new economic, residential and innovation district for the city and for Scotland.
“This panel will take a strategic look at the full west Edinburgh growth corridor, examining how coordinated investment can helping tackling the housing crisis, unlocking new commercial and innovation capacity, and driving sustainable, inclusive economic growth.”
It is taking place on the 19th of next month.
Read more, here.
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Flats proposal submitted for house in Merchiston
A PLANNING application has been submitted to turn a house in Merchiston into 11 flats.
The application - here, ref:26/02638/FUL - reads: “Change of use of existing dwellinghouse to form six flats, demolition of existing extension and garage, and erection of replacement extensions to form five flats including landscaping, and associated works.”
The architects are ISA.
The story is picked up by the Edinburgh Evening News newspaper, here.
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Subscriber numbers and the opportunity to share
AS of earlier today, the number of subscribers of BuildEdinburgh had broken through the 700 mark, to sit at 720.
Thank you, to each and every one of you.
As a thank you, the paywall to the archive has been removed.
And do please help spread the word, by using the social media sharing icon accompanying each and every bit of editorial.
If you are a free subscriber and feel like providing the site with even more backing, our annual paying member subscription has been discounted to £20 - returning to the standard £30 tomorrow.
Finally, if each and every one of you were to type, ‘BuildEdinburgh’, into your internet search engine, who knows how much the site could climb up the ‘search results’ rankings.
All the best, Mike Wilson, editor
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Road closure at Holyrood Park
A HOLYROOD Park road has been closed to pedestrians and cyclists for what are being described as “urgent electricity network repairs”.
Says SP Energy Networks, Duddingston Low Road is expected to be closed until next Friday, with a diversion in place using the Innocent Railway Path.
The story is picked up by The Edinburgh Reporter website, here.
More details, here, on the SP Energy Networks website.
Main image details: Ross Fountain, Princes Street Gardens; all images: copyright Mike Wilson