City centre hotel set for green light despite demolition alarm
Plans for a new luxury hotel and 1920s tearoom on the corner of Princes Street and Hanover Street are set to be given the go-ahead today.
Under proposals by property developer RRH Hanover A Limited, five buildings between Princes Street, the east side of Hanover Street and Rose Street will be repurposed into a hotel offering a “boutique stay in a prime location, but without the fuss of a busy city centre hotel”.
Features will include rooftop terraces with skyline views, a fitness studio and guest lounge overlooking the Mound and Princes Street Gardens.
RRH Hanover A say their plans to restore a series of B and C listed buildings will bring a new lease of life to five under-used buildings in the city centre, and council officials will tell today’s development management subcommittee that they should be given the go-ahead.
But heritage chiefs say they are “surprised” that the council, backed by Historic Environment Scotland, are happy with the plans, which will see a listed building demolished in the Unesco World Heritage Site.
Plans submitted show upper floors across five buildings earmarked for conversion from retail storage to a 61-bedroom hotel. A large tearoom for hotel guest and public use will be formed at first floor level on Hanover Street.
Under the proposals a C-listed building at 40 Rose Street will be demolished. Currently occupied by a bookmaker, the building is believed to date back to the first New Town. It has seen significant rebuilding and numerous alterations which have left “little original fabric and a disfigured profile to the building”.
Sharing the plans on X, formerly Twitter, the Cockburn Association said: “Surprised that the Council with the support of Historic Environment Scotland are willing to agree
If the occupant was a jeweller or patisserie, not a bookie, would there be a different view?
to the demolition of a listed building in the World Heritage Site to facilitate even more tourist accommodation in the heart of the City. If the occupant was a jeweller or patisserie rather than a bookie, would the assessment have been different?”
But director Terry Levinthal added: “There are positive elements to the proposals, and we have no objection in principle to hotel use in this location.”