£15m revamp for New Town jewel labelled 'too drastic'

Critics have attacked a bid to convert the former headquarters of the National Trust for Scotland (NTS) into "boutique" office space.

The capital's leading heritage watchdog, the Cockburn Association, has urged Edinburgh-based Corran Properties to return to the drawing board over its 15 million scheme, which would create a new building at the back of the existing addresses at 26-31 Charlotte Square, as well as a series of covered and uncovered courtyards, and an underground car park.

It is the first phase of a project to transform several buildings, as well as the general "public realm" of Charlotte Square, by curbing traffic and removing clutter.

Corran plans to gut the "rabbit warren" previously occupied by NTS and create new office space targeted at banks, financial institutions and investment funds. The buildings on the south side of the square date back to 1820.

However, Corran, which is acting on behalf of a Bermuda-based investment fund, Fordell Estates, has been accused of trying to destroy much of the original fabric of the Robert Adam-designed building, vacated last year by NTS in favour of new offices in the Edinburgh Park area.

Corran has also been urged to produce "less drastic" designs for the extension and the courtyard gardens, amid claims that the modern addition will dwarf existing buildings and that there is no need to remove an existing building, in Hope Street Lane.

The Cockburn claims that it is supportive of the "general aspiration" of the developer to create first-class accommodation, normally associated with London.

However, Marion Williams, Cockburn director, said there were concerns over a string of issues, including how glass walls and a roof enclosing the new courtyard areas would be cleaned, the loss of historic garden walls to make way for an underground car park, the "unacceptable" intrusion on neighbours from the new development, and the scale of the changes to the original building.

She said: "We find the proposed (new] building, with its timber panel architecture, over-large openings, flat roof and veneer of ashlar stonework, unexceptional and bland.

"We believe that a less drastic proposal would produce a more desirable result, one able to better marry the conservation concerns of the many proposed interventions with the ambition of creating a unique and highly desirable work environment."

No-one at Fordell was available to comment yesterday.

Charlotte Square was named after Queen Charlotte, wife of George III, a major patroness of the arts. It is part of Unesco- designated World Heritage Site and was designed as a complete unit by Robert Adam, a key architect of the New Town, in 1791.

The memorial in the middle of the gardens commemorates Prince Albert. Bute House, at number 6 Charlotte Square, is the official residence of the First Minister.