January 16 2023

Edinburgh is to receive more student apartments with the submission of a planning application by Alumno Group and Stallan-Brand for 191 rooms on the corner of Restalrig Road and London Road.

Incorporating a ground-floor bar/restaurant at Jock's Lodge the building will front a busy arterial route into the city with a lounge, study, gymand social spaces.

External amenity is provided for by a rear landscaped courtyard and roof terraces. The largely car-free build has been reduced from eight to seven storeys following pre-application feedback with reduced floor-to-ceiling heights also minimising massing.

David Campbell, founder of Alumno commented: “This exciting mixed-use scheme will serve to ease the acute housing pressures by providing greater options whilst, addressing the increasing and well-documented, student housing demand by providing modern, high quality and well-managed accommodation.

“We are committed to being a good neighbour and believe our plans will make the best and most positive impact on what is a highly constrained and challenging urban site.”

No fewer than eight student housing developments are proposed within a one-mile radius of the site, equating to 1,666 bedrooms, contributing to a total student population of 3,523 or 8.9% of the population.  

3 Comments

#1 Posted by Hilloch on 16 Jan 2023 at 10:53 AM

As long as the snooker hall survives, then I'm all in.

#2 Posted by CJH on 16 Jan 2023 at 13:25 PM

London Road into Abbeyhill is shaping up to be a very long stretch of student accommodation. Pretty uninspiring buildings all round but hopefully the occupants inject a little more purchasing power into the area.

#3 Posted by Mr. Benn on 20 Jan 2023 at 11:10 AM

That is a fair stretch of properties to assemble into one development. It appears from the visual that 'Jock's Lodge' is demolished (= loss of historic fabric) rather than it incorporating a ground-floor bar/restaurant. There are surely other options that would genuinely address easing acute housing pressures. The proposal is certainly in keeping with Meadowbank House adjacent, which looks like it could be repurposed for student accommodation instead- if that is really needed.

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