The restored Jenners building is set to be Edinburgh's crowning jewel
The huge development offers hope for Princes Street in desperate need of a makeover
Something rather amazing is happening in the centre of Edinburgh.
For the first time in more than two years, the scaffolding covering the Jenners Building is disappearing and the grand old lady of Princes Street is emerging again for all to see in her newly restored splendour.
Doors reopening to the public may still be a few years away but this month the developers offered a sneak peek behind-the-scenes with a special hard-hat tour of one of the greatest building renovation projects in the modern history of Edinburgh.
Opened in 1838, the Edinburgh landmark had declined in recent years culminating in a miserable few years in the hands of House of Fraser owner Mike Ashley. In 2017 it was effectively saved from it’s Poundshop trajectory by Danish billionaire Anders Povlsen who closed the doors and vowed to return it to its former glory. That process is now reaching completion.
Led by David Chipperfield Architects, the 20,000-square-metre redevelopment brings together meticulous heritage conservation with contemporary design ambition in partnership with specialist craftspeople from across Scotland and the UK.
Their aim is to preserve and honour the building’s history while evolving it to meet contemporary retail needs.
If the W hotel is Edinburgh’s carbuncle, the restored Jenners Building could be its crowning jewel.
Why does this matter? The Princes Street fire earlier this year and the destruction of the old Debenhams building was a vivid reminder of just how fragile our built heritage is. If we don’t look after it, we stand to lose it.
These projects aren’t easy. It’s much easier to tear something down and start again, using new techniques and materials to create the kind of bland, empty spaces landlords want.
Within the Jenners Building, asbestos had to be stripped out, all electrical wiring replaced and heritage specialists employed to restore architectural details to their former glory.
The former double-height atrium above the Princes Street entrance is being restored, the three-storey, top-lit central atrium returned to its former splendour and the historic tea room revived with it’s nods to the Alhambra Palace in Granada.
But all this comes at a huge cost. Perhaps another £50 million on top of the £53 million the developers paid for the building. Only someone with the deepest pockets could contemplate a mission like this – something worth contemplating the next time a wealth tax is floated as the solution to everything.
And there was of course another price, the tragic death of brave firefighter Barry Martin who died during a blaze in Jenners three years ago. The restored building will feature a permanent memorial to him.
Right now, Edinburgh’s main shopping street has never looked worse. From gap sites to empty building to trash stores and fast food outlets, Princes Street is a grim shadow of its former self.
But what is happening on the Jenners site offers a real sense of hope. It shows why the past matters and what can be achieved if the pension schemes, investment houses and private individuals who own properties from the West End to the East End look beyond fast profits to civic responsibility and the greater good.
Edinburgh’s great building heritage is reaching a tipping point where age and the needs of modern society catch up. Do we want further structures like the W Hotel or more places like the revived and restored Jenners Building? That is the fundamental choice we need to make in the years ahead.
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