Enlightenment dawns over Adam Smith’s home as glass box extension scrapped

By BRIAN FERGUSON
Published on 31/10/2012 00:38

A CONTROVERSIAL “glass-box” extension to the historic Edinburgh home of Adam Smith is to be dropped under fresh plans to bring the building into public use.

Panmure House, where the celebrated economist known as “the father of capitalism” lived in 18th-century Edinburgh, has been lying empty for years, hidden away off the Royal Mile, a few hundreds yards from where he is buried behind the Canongate Kirk.

Scaled-back plans – drawn up in the wake of opposition from a host of heritage bodies – would see a new 100-capacity “function” space built on to the existing building, rather than a large glass atrium.

Four years after it was “saved for the nation”, supporters hope the new plans will finally see the building, where the author of The Wealth of Nations spent his final years, become a new “intellectual hub” off the Royal Mile.

Heriot-Watt University, which has already gone through a public inquiry over its bid to turn the building into a business and research centre, has produced a new scheme after earlier plans did not prove viable.

It claims the latest plans will be less intrusive, as the new reception area will be hidden from view beneath a garden 
terrace.

The original scheme was approved by the Scottish Government last July after a public inquiry reporter ruled that the house was “much altered and with an interior almost entirely lost,” but building work never got under way.

The university’s business school, which had been planning to open the new centre in 2011, has now admitted it ordered a full review of the project earlier this year.

The cost of the scheme has also doubled from the original estimate of £2 million given in 2009. These figures do not include the original £800,000 cost of purchasing the building from the city council.

Chris Watkins, director of development at the business school, said: “The level of opposition to the previous scheme was definitely a factor in the review.

“We’ve had a lot of support from heritage bodies like Historic Scotland for the latest plans, which the council’s planning department say they are happy with, and we’re hoping to start work in August of next year.”

Professor Keith Lumsden, director of the business school, said: “Panmure House is the home of modern economics. This project will preserve a key part of Scotland’s heritage while helping maintain Edinburgh’s reputation as a place that nurtures innovative and creative economic thought.”

Adam Wilkinson, director of Edinburgh World Heritage, has written a letter in support of the project. It states: “The draft proposals represent a fresh approach to achieving the business school’s vision, respecting the historic fabric of the building, its appearance within this part of the city and its setting.”