Artistic hub plan for old Venture site

THE former North Canongate Infant School is being lined up to become a hub for writers, publishers and artists.

The building on New Street, most recently known as the Canongate Venture, was due to be demolished to make way for a hotel and conference centre as part of the Caltongate scheme.

The city council was approached several months ago about bringing the now-empty building back into use, but at the time was making a last-ditch attempt to rescue Caltongate after the original developer went into administration.

Following the collapse of the scheme last week, the plans for the C-listed building, backed by the Old Town Development Trust, are back on the table.

Trust spokeswoman Catriona Grant said: "Everything has been on hold while the council were trying to revive Caltongate, but now that has collapsed hopefully we will start to see things moving quite quickly."