THE £75 million plan to develop a five-star luxury hotel in and around the former Royal School on Edinburgh’s Calton Hill looks to have been dealt a fatal blow after council planners rejected the proposal.
The final decision will fall to councillors next week, but they will have to ignore advice from planning officials that the hotel would have “a significant adverse impact on the character” of the site.
The development by Urbanist Hotels and Duddingston House Properties originally envisaged Hoskins Architects designing a 160-room hotel. This was revised down to 147 rooms after the original design was attacked for being too modern and not blending into the surrounding area.
More than 2,000 objections have been received, including strong opposition from Scottish Natural Heritage and Historic Environment Scotland. Against that, a poll of 5,000 people across Edinburgh found 93 per cent in favour of the plan.
The officials’ report added: “While in general the development would accord with principles on accessibility and would have an economic benefit, these benefits are not outweighed by the harm to the historic environment.
“As such, the development is not sustainable development as defined by Scottish Planning Policy.
“The benefits to the city’s economy and to tourism through bringing an at-risk building back into a sustainable long-term use are not outweighed by the significant harm to built heritage and landscape of the city.”
The developers were last night pinning their hopes on councillors setting aside the officials’ recommendation at their meeting next week – a rarity in local government in recent years.
Taco van Heusden of Urbanist Hotels said: “We are confident the application is very much in line with the brief from the City of Edinburgh Council to restore the former Royal High School building for use as a world-class hotel and to create hundreds of quality jobs in the heart of the capital.
“Indeed, the planners recognise the creation of such a hotel as the only viable option. We appreciate this is a significant judgement for councillors and feel it is one they can make with the reassurance of what the hotel operator, Rosewood, has achieved internationally in equally sensitive World Heritage sites.”
A plan by the Royal High School Preservation Trust and St Mary’s School of Music to turn the Grade A-listed building into a music school with concert hall will be considered if the Development Management Sub-Committee rejects the hotel plan.
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