Music school ‘ready to go’ with move into Royal High
THE transformation of a building on Edinburgh’s Calton Hill into a music school “could start tomorrow” if appeals by hotel developers fail.
The future of the Old Royal High School hangs in the balance as rival bids from a hotel group and the music school await planning decisions.
Currently, two Scottish Government reporters are hearing evidence in an appeal from co-developers Duddingston House Properties and Urbanist Hotels.
They are appealing against the City of Edinburgh Council’s decision to refuse planning permission for a luxury hotel on the site in August last year.
If the reporters reject the appeal, and ministers follow their advice, then St Mary’s Music School officials say they are ready to take over the site.
The school, which has planning permission and financial backing for its plan to turn the building into its new headquarters, said it would take around two years to transform the site.
Last week it launched a new campaign to get around 40,000 people to send a “polite note” to the First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, supporting the music school plan.
Dr Kenneth Taylor, the headteacher of St Mary’s Music School, said: “It’s designed to let people know while although the inquiry is ongoing, there is actually a very exciting alternative.
“And, furthermore, we have planning permission for these plans [and] the funding for these plans are in place, which in terms of a philanthropic gift to Scotland [from the Dunard Fund] is unparalleled in recent times.
“It’s an investment of £35million, which is incredibly exciting – and we are ready to go. We are just being held up by the appeal process – the Note campaign is designed to remind our supporters, remind the people of Edinburgh, and to remind the politicians that we are here, and ready to go, and there is an alternative.”
The appeal process is expected to last six weeks.
The reporters are expected to make their recommendations at the end of this year, or the beginning of 2019, and then ministers decided whether they will uphold or reject the reporters’ decision.
Dr Taylor added: “We could start tomorrow, if we were given the go-ahead.
“We have been working closely with the architect – we have a great consensus around these plans from so many angles.”