Ashford Property Group and Morgan McDonnell Architects are pushing a hotel conversion and new build extension of a former office block at Edinburgh’s Thistle Street North West Lane.

Located in the heart of the New Town World Heritage Site this will see a misaligned extension knocked down allowing a ‘more sympathetic contemporary extension’ to take its place, matching a glazed rear extension in terms of massing and restoring the building line to the sites eastern boundary.

In a statement the architects wrote: “The height and massing of the proposed new build extension has been designed to be subservient to the original building with the roofline matching the main building eaves. The proposed roofline also sits below the demolished existing stairwell and the principle eaves heights of the Queen Street properties.

“Further refinement of the massing includes a setback top storey, the vertical break between stone and brick and the articulation of window openings to match the artisanal characteristics of the existing building.”