Superschool by the castle aims to put finance capital back on the map

Published on Saturday 14 February 2009 12:32

PLANS for a £25m Scottish business 'superschool' have been revived with a site in the shadow of Edinburgh Castle now top of the list of venues.

The project, aimed at attracting world class business leaders, is believed to have been greeted enthusiastically by Edinburgh City Council, which sees it as an opportunity to restore the city's dented pride in the wake of the financial crisis.

The Edinburgh School for Executive Development (ESED) would be a 120-room residential facility and, as with an earlier project, there are plans to link up with top international schools to develop courses for senior figures in the biggest global companies.

Council buildings in King's Stables Road have been identified as a preferred location, though other sites in and around the city have potential.

Dennis Hardie, of Hardie Associates, is working on the concept with 7N, a newly launched architectural practice, and they have held extensive talks with the council. Hardie said he was encouraged by the response. "It has been very well received," he said.

The idea is to compete with international schools such as Wharton and Harvard in the US and Insead in Paris that recruit executives from the world's biggest companies. A brochure presented to the council says the project also aims to be a "model for Scotland's potential young leaders for the future".

However, while the previous scheme was backed by international project management firm Mace, the latest initiative has yet to find a financial backer, even though the aim is to have the school operational by next year.

It would create 30 jobs, though the addition to Edinburgh of a prestigious international school in a globally recognisable location would have huge spin-off benefits.

Ewan Anderson, who launched 7N last month with six former members of Make Architects, said the location of the proposed school close to Edinburgh Castle would be a big seller. "If you are marketing it around the world it has everything going for it," he said.

A project of this kind has been discussed for some 30 years. Other established business schools in Scotland are once again likely to respond with a mixture of cynicism and concern as to how it may affect them if it does get off the drawing board.

Four years ago there were plans to build a superschool in Dunfermline, supported by Gordon Brown, then the Chancellor of the Exchequer, but it ran into difficulties over buying the land.