‘Modest’ hotel plan in battle for future of Old Royal High School
DEVELOPERS hoping to turn one of Edinburgh’s most iconic buildings into a hotel have submitted “modest”plans after the Scottish Government refused earlier attempts.
The Old Royal High School, a neo-classical building on Calton Hill, was built in 1823 and is at the centre of a battle of wills over its future.
The Scottish Government threw out proposals for the A-listed building to have two multi-storey extensions added, drawn up by Urbanist Hotels and Duddingston House Properties.
The City of Edinburgh Council had already refused, and a rival proposal is under way to allow the proposed relocation of St Mary’s Music School from the west end.
Ministers rejected the plans on the basis there would have been “considerable damage to the setting of one of the most important neoclassical buildings in the city.”
But hotelier Taco van Heusden, co-founder of Urbanist Hotels, called on the city council – which agreed to lease the building to allow it to become an “arts hotel” 10 years ago – to prioritise jobs and investment on the site rather than embark on “long procurement delays” with 250 jobs promised.
Mr van Heusden wrote on social media: “We will put forward a more modest arts hotel proposal that fits the now established parameter.
“Scale was established more than four-five years ago, inevitably things do change.
“Detailed proposals will come in due course.
“In these times especially, Edinburgh needs jobs and investment not years of new procurement process.
“The council also needs to be released from its £250,000 annual maintenance cost for the old Royal High School.
“There are much better ways to spend that money.
“Across Europe such buildings are converted into hotels because of its more flexible internal layouts. Fabric destruction will not be the answer. “This building must be rescued.” Heritage body the Cockburn Association said: “Developers dismissed more modest proposals at the outset as unviable, so they now need to stand aside.
“The council needs to end its contractual relationship ASAP to allow other opportunities to advance.”
Speaking last month, Terry Levinthal, director of the Cockburn Association, said: “We are delighted with the decision to dismiss the appeal and to refuse planning and listed building
consent to this hotel proposal. The Old Royal High School is one of the world’s most significant examples of Greek Revival neo-classical buildings in the world, and it is the symbolic manifestation of the Edinburgh’s moniker ‘The Athens of the North’.
“Not only would the scheme cause irreparable damage to the fabric and setting of this Category-a listed building, its economic value to the city’s economy was significantly less than had been suggested.
“Together with our coalition partners Edinburgh World Heritage and the New Town & Broughton Community Council, we thank the very many people who contributed to our campaign against these proposals.”
Professor Cliff Hague, Cockburn chairman, said: “The Cockburn hopes that the development interests behind the hotel scheme will step back from their lease, which they hold until 2022, to allow the music school proposals by the Royal High School Preservation
Trust to advance. This scheme, which is a much more appropriate civic use, has planning consent and is fully funded.”
The Royal High School Preservation Trust advanced proposals in 2017 to refurbish the A-listed building as the new home for the St Mary’s Music School.
That scheme, designed by Richard Murphy Architects, has planning and listed building consent.
Peter Drummond, former national chairman of the Architectural Society of Scotland, said: “Scottish ministers have agreed with some of Scotland’s foremost heritage experts that the hotel proposals have an adverse impact on not just the former Royal High School but also Calton Hill, the New Town, and the World Heritage Site.
“They have disagreed with the applicants on nearly every substantive point: this building is just too important for our heritage to allow this massive development.”