Architect reveals hotel, student housing and wedding venue vision for Edinburgh 'arts village' Summerhall

Cultural hub was put up for sale in May

Edinburgh arts centre Summerhall was put up for sale in May. Picture: Mihaela BodlovicEdinburgh arts centre Summerhall was put up for sale in May. Picture: Mihaela Bodlovic
Edinburgh arts centre Summerhall was put up for sale in May. Picture: Mihaela Bodlovic

One of Edinburgh’s best-known architects has revealed plans for a hotel with a rooftop bar, a wedding and conference venue, and student housing at the home of “arts village” Summerhall.

Malcolm Fraser said his vision would allow the popular cultural venue and creative industries hub, which was put up for sale earlier this year, to remain intact indefinitely under new ownership.

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Summerhall has been hosting cultural shows and events since 2011.Summerhall has been hosting cultural shows and events since 2011.
Summerhall has been hosting cultural shows and events since 2011.

He said the conversion of two “Brutalist” buildings on the site for commercial uses could see them “cross-subsidise” the arts venue, which opened in a former vet school overlooking the Meadows in 2011.

Mr Fraser, who insisted he was not working with a potential buyer of Summerhall, said his proposals would not involve the demolition of any of the existing buildings at the 130,000 sq ft site.

The Edinburgh-born architect - whose cultural buildings in the city, including the Scottish Poetry Library, Scottish Storytelling Centre, Dance Base, and Dovecot Studios - said he had drawn up his proposals in consultation with Summerhall Arts, the charity which hopes to keep staging live performances, events and exhibitions at the venue.

Edinburgh arts centre and Fringe venue Summerhall was put up for sale in May. Edinburgh arts centre and Fringe venue Summerhall was put up for sale in May.
Edinburgh arts centre and Fringe venue Summerhall was put up for sale in May.

Mr Fraser, who published his proposals to coincide with the closing date for bids for Summerhall, has earmarked an 80-room “arts hotel” with a rooftop bar for a seven-storey building on the site.

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He has also proposed the creation of a 36-room “student wing” as part of a revamp that is intended to allow all existing of Summerhall’s users and tenants to remain.

A proposed redevelopment of Summerhall in Edinburgh would see the creation of an 'arts hotel' and a 'student wing' at the site overlooking the Meadows. Image: Fraser/Livingstone Architects A proposed redevelopment of Summerhall in Edinburgh would see the creation of an 'arts hotel' and a 'student wing' at the site overlooking the Meadows. Image: Fraser/Livingstone Architects
A proposed redevelopment of Summerhall in Edinburgh would see the creation of an 'arts hotel' and a 'student wing' at the site overlooking the Meadows. Image: Fraser/Livingstone Architects | Fraser/Livingstone Architects

More than 120 businesses are said to occupy around 60 per cent of the Summerhall campus, which attracts more than a million visitors a year, including around 250,000 in August, when it is one of the city’s biggest Fringe venues.

His new Summerhall blueprint states: “Summerhall is a city within the city, a maze of courts, closes, halls and back stairs, full of artistry and industry, with all sorts of galleries and theatres, brewers and distillers, tech innovation and quiet studios, but with the arts leading all.

Edinburgh arts centre Summerhall was put up for sale in May. Picture: David SpringfordEdinburgh arts centre Summerhall was put up for sale in May. Picture: David Springford
Edinburgh arts centre Summerhall was put up for sale in May. Picture: David Springford

"Like all cities it has backwaters, including abandoned or underused buildings and corners.

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"But its future is uncertain as its vast contribution to the culture of Edinburgh and beyond relies on considerable philanthropic subsidy.

"This proposal looks to reorganise the creative uses more efficiently within the site’s historic sections, and release two ‘unloved’ 1960s-1970s Brutalist buildings."

When Summerhall was put up for sale, the site offered “endless mixed use refurbishment and redevelopment opportunities.”

Estate agents Cuthbert White said at the time: "Summerhall presents a unique opportunity to acquire an income producing thriving mixed use estate with extensive refurbishment and redevelopment options subject to planning.

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"Extensive mixed use redevelopment and refurbishment options including residential, galleries and entertainment spaces, boutique hotels, offices, studios, and student housing, subject to the necessary consents.”

More than 14,000 supporters of Summerhall backed a petition launched in the wake of the sale announcement, calling for the site to be retained as a “vital cultural institution.”

Summerhall Arts has since said its hopes to secure an initial three-year lease which would allow the venue to keep running while the site changes hands and plans for its redevelopment, with the hope of negotiating a longer-term future for the venue.

Mr Fraser, who formed his current practice Fraser/Livingstone Architects with Robin Livingstone in 2019, said his proposals had been designed to reduce the risk of Summerhall’s redevelopment being held up by protracted disputes over its future uses and any proposals to demolish existing buildings.

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He told The Scotsman: "I am hoping to short-circuit that with a proposal that brings in funding to the site but keeps the main value of Summerhall and all the people who use it to the fore.

"There is a long journey to come for Summerhall. I wanted to put a marker down at the beginning and say ‘this is what the site might be.’

"The whole site is actually a bit chaotic. Nothing is completely in the right place. I’m proposing that some things get moved about a bit and the two Brutalist buildings are left to then become the parts of the site that funds the rest of it.

"I really care about the site. I’m basically trying to say: ‘What is the best for this site socially, architecturally and for the arts, that would be new energy, use and money to Summerhall?’

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"At the moment, it runs with a huge yearly deficit, which someone is going to need to make up one way or the other.”

Mr Fraser has lodged his proposals with the estate agents handling the sale of Summerhall, which was put onto the open market in May by Oesselmann Estates Limited, an Isle of Man-based family-owned trust which Summerhall’s founder, arts philanthropist Robert McDowell is a director of.

Mr Fraser added: “Summerhall is an absolutely wonderful place. With most formal arts centres, you have to write the brief and decide what is going to happen here and there.

"With Summerhall, Robert McDowell has looked at the building, thought about what works in it and had approaches from people who want to use it. It has had a Darwinian evolution – its uses have come to fit the building.”

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Summerhall Arts chief executive Sam Gough: “We will support any bids for Summerhall that support the ongoing and consistent provision of artistic space.

”We are just hopeful that the current offers make the right decision when they see the available offers, which will allow us to continue to operate in the way that we and the city want Summerhall to operate.”

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