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New lease of life for Edinburgh landmark

Thursday, February 04, 2010

Catherine Deshayes

One of the most iconic landmark in the Scottish city of Edinburgh is to get a new look and be brought back into use for the first time since 1968 following the local council's agreement to turn it into an Arts Hotel...

The listed Royal High School, which forms part of the World Heritage Site on Calton Hill has been vacant for over 40 years, so it's about time it got a new lease of life.

Edinburgh City Council has accepted plans to transform the building, which was once considered as a base for the Scottish Parliament, into a £35million hotel complex which will also house a restaurant, café, and public gallery space for temporary exhibitions.

The agreement comes after a year-long search to discover an appropriate new use for the building, with more than 50 companies submitting proposals for what it could be used for.

The final Arts Hotel design, submitted by Duddingston House Properties, was chosen as the most fitting.

But, the same concept proved controversial in relation to the former Odeon cinema in South Clerk Street, which Duddingston House Properties spent more than six years trying to redevelop.

Many people wanted the building to be turned into a spectacular photography centre, but Jim Lowrie, the city's planning leader, said the problem was that culture costs public money, whereas hotels do not.

"Although there are a lot of new budget hotels being built, there is still a shortage of five-star hotels in the city," he said.

Adam Wilkinson, Director of Edinburgh World Heritage said, "The plans to reinvigorate the Royal High School are certainly most welcome."

"The Royal High School is one of Edinburgh's most magnificent buildings, vital to Edinburgh's epithet of ‘Athens of the North and has wider significance as part of the collection of monuments of national importance on Calton Hill and is an essential element of the World Heritage Site," he added.

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Picture by wikipedia