September 9 2020

Orion Capital Partners with Ediston have filed detailed plans for Edinburgh's New Town Quarter, a mixed-use live/work development forecast to begin construction next summer.

Adhering to a masterplan penned by 10 Design the major city centre application calls for a variety of homes to be built alongside new office space on the northern edge of the New Town conservation area.

Bounded by Dundas Street and King George V park the urban site was latterly occupied by a data centre and office space with an extensive frontage along Royal Crescent.

The masterplan can roughly be broken down into two key moves, the first of which will be the completion of two urban blocks at Dundas Street and Eyre Place to provide a mix of apartments and a hotel. This will be augmented by establishing a new street edge along Fettes Row, centred on a 'subservient' modern crescent to parallel the listed terrace to the south.

New pedestrian links will also be established to the park, opening up access to both Dundas and Dundonald Street's while establishing 'designed' views. A significant change in levels across the site will require the creation of a landscaped podium deck, facilitating level access while segregating traffic on lower levels.

In a masterplan statement, the applicant wrote: "The specific ‘constraints’ of the development site, including the existence of the park, Eyre Terrace, the change in topography, and the set out of Eyre Place relative to Fettes Row (in terms of the new town urban block module), are all anomalies and at odds with the formal structure and rigour of the New Town grid. To this end, any desire to replicate or extend the New town pattern - in plan or elevation across the development site, is considered to be at odds with the historical development of the site and an appropriate contextual response."

Full completion of the masterplan is not expected before 2024.

7 Comments

#1 Posted by Green New Deal on 9 Sep 2020 at 12:59 PM

We should be knocking all these buildings down to develop green spaces, more gardens and trees, that will help save the planet from ecological disaster.

#2 Posted by Stylecouncil on 9 Sep 2020 at 13:54 PM

Good luck to the Fettes Row trees. No way they will survive the proximity of that building.

#3 Posted by GlasgowSmilesBetter on 9 Sep 2020 at 16:02 PM

1 word …. Horrific

#4 Posted by Philip on 9 Sep 2020 at 17:06 PM

It all looks a bit Premier Inn.
I think actually prefer the existing former data centre building. At least it has a modicum of authenticity.
Struggling to find any joy, ambition or creativity within this proposal.

#5 Posted by TheFakeArchitect on 9 Sep 2020 at 17:06 PM

I cant agree that this is "Horrific"..!
There's clearly a lot of good work went into this, with some nice ideas and would be a big positive for that area of town. Then again, maybe I'm just glad its not facing brick and square.

#6 Posted by David on 9 Sep 2020 at 23:40 PM

Sorry but this is dreadful, whether or not lots of work went into its development. Shoeboxes stacked onto shoeboxes, devoid of any character. I agree that it looks like a giant Premier Inn. When will Edinburgh get it right? It is such a shame that almost every new proposal is so bad against the backdrop of a very pretty historical centre.

#7 Posted by Randall Sloan on 10 Sep 2020 at 09:21 AM

I don't think this is exactly horrific, the idea of creating the never-realised south northern side of Royal Crescent is a good one, however the architecture of the whole thing just comes across as a bit tepid, I think that is where the problem's lie, there isn't anything majorly wrong with it but then its not exactly a gift from the gods of architecture either. In that spirit, bless them for trying, pray for better.

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