New war of words flares over music school bid
● Hotel developers go on the attack over impact of rival bid on historic site
Allowing one of Edinburgh’s most prominent landmarks into a new music school and concert venue will put it more danger than if it becomes a luxury hotel, the backers of the latter scheme have claimed.
Developers are attempting to hijack the planned rebirth of the old Royal High for educational purposes by warning it will pose a much greater risk than the £75 million Rosewood scheme.
Duddingston House Properties and the Urbanist Group, the two firms behind the longdelayed hotel project, have submitted new analysis of the rival schemes, commissioned from engineering firm Arup, to the city council.
Fears have been raised over the “unnecessary and irreversible” loss of “substantial”
0 A computer-generated image of how the old Royal High would look as a music school parts of the 1829 building to accommodate a new home for Scotland’s only independent music school, St Mary’s, and the impact of construction works, including rock blasting and excavations if the £35m project goes ahead. The already has the backing of the city council, but it is tied to a lease agreement with the hotel developers following a design contest staged in 2009.
The hotel scheme was rejected by the city council in December 2015 amid widespread fears over the impact of two multi-storey extensions which are needed for the 147 hotel bedrooms. Critics claim they would be the equivalent of “sticking Mickey Mouse ears on the Mona Lisa”.
Councillors are due to discuss scaled-backed plans for the hotel development at the end of next month. They are being opposed by two separate campaigns – run by heritage groups and supporters of the music school.
However, in their new submission, the hotel developers have told the city council: “The [music school] proposal fails to indicate the true nature and extent of the demolitions proposed, causing real concerns as to the endangerment of the Hamilton building and loss of heritage assets.
“The proposal has been portrayed as conservationled when it is in fact harmful to the special interest of the building and highly risky if it were attempted. Public access is founded on the destruction of large sections of the original structure.”
A spokesman for the music school project said: “This latest attack is pretty desperate stuff from a team who are clearly spooked. Our engineering approach was unreservedly approved by Historic Environment Scotland and had the unanimous backing of the council. The 80 per cent of the people in Edinburgh who support our scheme won’t be fooled by this nonsense.”