Don’t forget Edinburgh’s modern landmarks

IN A beautiful capital city like Edinburgh there is always going to be controversy over the how the city fathers (and mothers) deal with urban development.

The latest into the fray is Peter Wilson, of Napier University who has accused the city council of “apathy, ignorance and greed” and is particularly critical of the decision to turn the former Royal High School on Calton Hill into a hotel.

A former head of the Edinburgh office of the architects who designed the universally praised extension to the national museum in Chambers Street, Mr Wilson’s views cannot be easily dismissed.

There will be some sympathy for his view that developments like the Hotel Missoni on George IV Bridge and The Cube at the foot of Calton Hill, have not set the architectural heather on fire.

But it is strange he does not acknowledge the capital is home to landmark modern buildings. His former firm’s museum is one. For better or worse, the Scottish Parliament is another and smaller buildings such as the National Poetry Library, off the Canongate, stand out.

Mr Wilson’s intervention should prompt further debate on the capital’s future, in which it should be remembered that two sites with potential – Calton Gate and Haymarket – were delayed, rightly or wrongly, by objections to what with modification could have been striking developments. Will the new St James Centre be the next battleground?