Work begins on final Quartermile office building

An artist's impression of Quartermile 3, which will provide 73,000sq ft of office space in Edinburgh city centre

The £35 million six-story building, designed by Foster & Partners, will provide almost 73,000 square feet of Grade A office space at the mixed-use scheme, on the site of the former Edinburgh Royal Infirmary.

Dubbed Quartermile 3, the offices will bring the combined gross development value of projects currently underway at Quartermile to more than £185m and will create employment opportunities for about 700 people.

The scheme is already home to travel search engine Skyscanner and fantasy sports business FanDuel, and earlier this month US chip designer Cirrus Logic – which acquired Edinburgh audio specialist Wolfson Microelectronics in 2014 – said it was taking four floors at Quartermile 4, spanning more than 70,000sq ft.

Cirrus Logic in major Edinburgh office move

Quartermile 3 is scheduled to be finished in the fourth quarter of 2017. Along with Quartermile 4, it is being built as a result of an £80m funding deal secured from M&G Real Estate in July 2014 to speculatively develop the remaining two office buildings.

Paul Curran, managing director of Quartermile Developments, said: “There is a great deal of confidence within the Edinburgh commercial property market at the moment. Speculatively developing Quartermile 3 is a unique opportunity as there is a limited pipeline of Grade A office space in the city.

“Quartermile 3 is the final opportunity for businesses to locate here and become part of a vibrant community unlike anywhere else in Edinburgh, so we are expecting a significant amount of interest.”

The overall Quartermile project is expected to be complete in 2018. When finished, it will have 1,050 apartments – of which more than 800 are already occupied, with a further 176 under construction – along with 370,000sq ft of Grade A office accommodation, 65,000sq ft of retail and leisure space and seven acres of open landscaping.