Critics hit out at plan for £20m gap site office block

Plans for the six-storey office building - which would include room for shops and a restaurant or bar - have been recommended for approval by council officials.

The architect behind the scheme says it will help revitalise the area of Leith Street opposite the St James Centre.

But objectors have claimed the glass-fronted building will be too big, out of character with the World Heritage Site and block views to Calton Hill.

It has been designed by award-winning Edinburgh architect Allan Murray, who designed the Tun building on Holyrood Road, for the Kilmartin Property Group.

It agreed to buy the council-owned land for an estimated 3 million last year after a fierce competition to win preferred bidder status. The development, which will have underground parking and around 8000sq ft of office space, is expected to cost more than 20m.

The site has been vacant since the former tenement buildings there were destroyed in 1974, at the time of the St James Centre redevelopment scheme.

Mr Murray said the new building would help make the area a more vibrant part of the city.

He said: "The whole St James Centre development just took the place down and it has been that way for more than 30 years.

"The aim of this building, particularly having shops or cafes on the ground floor, is to give pedestrians something vibrant again and to enrich the area."

He said the glass-fronted building would reflect modern tastes in architecture. "I am obviously very sensitive to the context but we have to create buildings of our time," he said.

"The front is multi-layered however, and so as well as glass and sandstone we have wooden shutters inside the windows that will react to the light.

"What we want is for the building to be something that will help bring the area to life again."

There have been five objections to the plans, among them neighbouring residents and heritage watchdog the Cockburn Association.

Yvonne Holton, planning assistant at the Cockburn Association, said: "The design of the building is disappointing. On an important site such as this, an interesting and dynamic example of architecture is required. What is being considered is massive. We object to such a development on this site, as the streetscape would be engulfed by a new office development."

The Regent Royal and Carlton Terraces Association also objected to the development's visual impact in the World Heritage site and said the buildings appeared "jumbled" and were too high.

They were also disappointed more had not been done to incorporate the pedestrian bridge from the St James Centre, suggesting it could have been extended across the new development to run all the way to Calton Hill.

Since the bridge may be taken down as part of the proposed redevelopment of the St James Centre however, it is not clear how feasible this would have been.

The architects have looked at the possibility of the bridge and the associated building being demolished in future years, creating plans for an open public plaza on the space left behind.

The plans have been recommended for approval by the council's planning committee, and a decision will be made on Wednesday.