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St Andrew’s Hall extension given go-ahead

April 16 2015

St Andrew’s Hall extension given go-ahead
TIAA Henderson Real Estate has secured permission to proceed with the conversion of Edinburgh’s St Andrew’s Hall into a management office and restaurant serving a revamped St James Centre.

Located off Little King Street the B-listed former church will be reworked at the hands of conservation specialists Purcell to accommodate a new café building adjoining the existing hall with office space above.

In their design statement Purcell noted: “The new café addition is designed to be a contemporary addition to St Andrew’s Hall which is subservient in scale and massing, yet bold in execution and elevation.

“The building is to be predominantly glazed to maintain a lightness in appearance in contrast to the robust masonry building behind. The glass walling allows a view to the existing building rubble south wall allowing it to remain legible behind the addition.

“The building responds to the existing building by aligning with its west elevation and referencing its vertical rhythm. This rhythm is adopted by the vertical bronze-finish fins and carried into the square on west and east elevations. The new retaining wall breaks down at its termination with Little King Street and here the vertical rhythm is carried through by vertical fins.”

Facing onto a new granite square with footpaths paved in ‘Scoutmoor’ Yorkstone and low kerbs to prioritise pedestrian use with the public entrance shifted to the bottom of the street to add interest.
A new square is intended to tie in with the wider New Town
A new square is intended to tie in with the wider New Town
The ground level will be raised to align with level one of the new St James Centre
The ground level will be raised to align with level one of the new St James Centre

2 Comments

Sven
#1 Posted by Sven on 28 Apr 2015 at 18:40 PM
The design is fine but the reality is this is a overshadowed literally by the St James Centre and is dark almost all the time, esp autumn through to spring, so how widely this new square and outdoor area will be used is likely to be rarely. The pickup point to John Lewis by car and access to various properties is also on this street, so are they assuming the cars are going to not use this? Has anyone told JLP and the owners of the private car parks behind Queen Street? Seems presumptuous and unrealistic given it will be a dark, cold area with traffic going past and overlooked by the St James Centre.
John Bain
#2 Posted by John Bain on 14 Sep 2022 at 16:09 PM
Hi I was working at St Andrews hall on Saturday I have a disabled badge and was not allowed to park I feel that this was discriminatory as there were no cars parked and it was very quiet.

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