Capital hotel is named 'the best new place in Scotland'

Published on Tuesday 16 March 2010 22:03

A CONTROVERSIAL new hotel in Edinburgh's Old Town has been named the best new place in Scotland.

• The Hotel Missoni in Edinburgh's Old Town has divided opinion. Picture: Phil Wilkinson

The Hotel Missoni, which replaced former offices of the Scottish Parliament on George IV Bridge, has been hailed for its "high-quality" design, despite dividing critics since it was unveiled last summer.

It was one of only two Scottish prize-winners at the at the annual Civic Trust Awards, which recognised 26 of the best new buildings, public spaces, restorations and works of art in the UK and Ireland over the last year.

It was ranked ahead of Edinburgh University's new Informatics Centre, which was built on a car park in the Potterrow area.

Other Scottish contenders included a Glasgow University building, and the Stobhill Hospital in Glasgow. The 26 winners, who were all said to have made "an outstanding contribution to the quality and appearance of the environment", included a John Lewis store in Leicester, an arts centre in Camden, a church in Belfast, and a pedestrian bridge in Liverpool.

The Edinburgh hotel, which opened in June, is the first in the world to be created by the Milan-based Missoni fashion house.

It is the centrepiece of a 50 million development, on the corner of George IV Bridge and the Lawnmarket, which took four years to get under way after the council approved plans to remove an eyesore office building, which was initially built in the early 1970s to provide offices for the then Lothian Regional Council.

The CTA award is its first honour, although it was nominated for both a Scottish Style Award and Scotland's major architectural prize, the Andrew Doolan Award, within months of opening.

The judges said: "Hotel Missoni is a successful and contextual contemporary project with high quality access and inclusive design.

"The prominent site includes two A-listed buildings which have been sensitively restored and used as functioning rooms of the hotel. These rooms not only provide a beautiful environment for the visitors but retain significant aspects of the history of the buildings and culture of that time."

Critics of the development have included architect Malcolm Fraser and the travel writer Peter Irvine, as well as heritage groups such as the Cockburn Association.

Marion Williams, director of the Cockburn Association, said: "

It's a bit of a disappointment. It neither blends in with the other buildings in the area nor is bold enough to make a real impact.

"I know people say that it is an improvement on what was there before, but I just don't think that's good enough in Edinburgh."