£200m hotel plan 'will spoil capital's historic skyline'

Published on Tuesday 19 February 2008 00:04

EDINBURGH'S most powerful heritage group is on a collision course with another developer over a multi-million-pound hotel scheme.

The body responsible for protecting the capital's World Heritage Site is warning that classic views of the city will be ruined by a 16-storey Haymarket complex being planned by the Irish developer Tiger.

The Edinburgh World Heritage (EWH) Trust has demanded that the plans for the scheme are scaled back, because of the impact it claims it will have on views all across the Unesco-designated area.

Trust officials have already warned the council that the world heritage status is being put at risk by major new developments, such as Caltongate, the hotel and office development in the heart of the Old Town, and Quartermile, which has seen skyscrapers created on the site of the former royal infirmary.

A leaf-shaped five-star hotel is the centrepiece of Tiger Developments' 200 million development, which will fill a gap site near Haymarket Station.

The luxury hotel chain InterContinental – which has only one hotel in the UK – is set to run the 180-room complex, complete with a swimming pool and gym near the top floor, where visitors will enjoy spectacular views of Edinburgh Castle.

A 250-bed Travelodge is planned next to the main hotel, while the scheme also includes three modern office blocks and cafs, bars and restaurants.

Tiger has drawn up plans for the site, which has lain derelict for at least 40 years, after outbidding 12 companies to snap up the land from Edinburgh Council.

A previous hotel and office development, pursued by the council's development wing, EDI, was given the go-ahead onlyafter a lengthy public inquiry, but was shelved when the local authority ruled that it had to sell the site to help fund a huge equal-pay settlement for staff.

However, the new scheme involves a much higher centrepiece building, which will be roughly the same height as the Balmoral Hotel.

The award-winning Edinburgh architect Richard Murphy, who has designed the five-star hotel, has declared it will "redefine" the Haymarket area.

However, the EWH trust, in its submission to the council, said: "It is a fact that Edinburgh's historic skyline is dominated by church spires and narrow, sometimes broken, unoccupied structures.

"The building will overshadow the existing buildings and townscape, and unfortunately we do not believe that this building will make a positive contribution to the World Heritage Site."

Concerns over the Haymarket scheme have previously been raised by Scottish Government watchdog Architecture and Design Scotland.

But Historic Scotland has put itself at odds with critics by giving its endorsement to the scheme, saying it is a "marked improvement" on the previously approved development.

John Nesbitt, the managing director of Tiger Developments, said: "Tiger Developments carried out an extensive eight-month consultation process with the local community and other key groups.

"We believe our proposals represent a vast improvement on the previous scheme, which already has planning consent," he added.