Duddingston House Properties and the Urbanist Group have come forward with revised proposals for the old Royal High School and a proposal of application notice (PAN). A full application will follow in 12 weeks at the earliest.
First, however, the plans – which many expect to comprise a drastically scaled-down version of the earlier luxury hotel scheme – will be the subject of a pre-application consultation (PAC) on a date to be agreed between 1st and 3rd November from 3pm-7pm at the old Royal High School itself.
It will be interesting to see how closely, if at all, the new designs mirror those of the consented St Mary’s Music School counter-proposal. The application form (available from the CEC planning portal, ref 16/04537/PAN) describes the development as follows:
Change of use, alterations to and restoration of principal former Royal High School Building and Pavilions (original Thomas Hamilton-designed school buildings), demolition of ancillary buildings including the former gymnasium block and lodge, new build development, new/improved vehicular, service and pedestrian accesses, landscaping, parking, public realm and other works to create a world class hotel of international standing with associated uses (including publicly accessible bars (public house) and restaurants class 3).
Observers will also watch with interest how consultation questions are framed, distributed, collated and interpreted following criticism of similar exercises last time around.
As reported here on 9 September, DHP and UG have successfully obtained a sist (delay) on the hearing of their appeal against City of Edinburgh Council’s refusal of planning permission for a previous hotel scheme. That proposal, and this latest one, will now be considered by Scottish Government reporters in parallel.
