City ready to give warm reception to hotel scheme

Published on Friday 11 December 2009 09:25

A TEN-STOREY hotel next to Ocean Terminal is set to win approval in the second major boost to the regeneration of the Waterfront this week.

The 20 million 250-bedroom hotel will sit beside the Ocean Point 1 office development. It would be the first hotel to be built in the area since the Holiday Inn opened in 1999.

The move comes just days after the Evening News revealed the city council is in talks to create one of the world's biggest Ferris wheels at the Waterfront, which could bring hundreds of thousands of visitors a year to the area.

Ocean Point Developments – which withdrew earlier plans for an 18-storey tower block after council officials recommended refusal – has opted for an unusual design created to fit the irregular shape of the site.

The land had been earmarked for a second office complex, Ocean Point 2, but it has lain undeveloped for a number of years and is currently used as a car park.

The development has been welcomed for having the potential to kick-start more regeneration in the area.

Leith councillor Gordon Munro said: "I think a hotel there could work. Malmaison worked and the Holiday Inn has worked.

"Hopefully it will lead to more people enjoying Leith and realising they can have a holiday in Leith without even needing to go into the city centre."

The planned hotel would be the first of five expected to be created as part of the multi-million-pound regeneration of Leith docks over the next 20 years.

The hotel developer had been asked to provide a 752,174 tram contribution but the company has asked to only provide 500,000 in order to make the project financially viable.

John Bury, head of planning at the city council, noted that a 2006 study had identified a need for 4,000 new hotel rooms in Edinburgh by 2015 to help meet predicted growth in demand.

He added: "The city centre is the preferred location for visitors, but the Waterfront including Leith is identified as having potential as hotel destinations."

Nobody at AWG Property, which is acting for Ocean Point Developments, was available to comment on the proposals.

It had previously said that it was in talks with "various" potential operators of the hotel but said no detailed decisions would be made until after planning consent was granted.