{"id":16735,"date":"2017-09-22T17:48:30","date_gmt":"2017-09-22T16:48:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ihbconline.co.uk\/newsachive\/?p=16735"},"modified":"2017-09-22T17:48:30","modified_gmt":"2017-09-22T16:48:30","slug":"ministers-asked-to-intervene-in-edinburgh-luxury-hotel-dispute","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/?p=16735","title":{"rendered":"Ministers asked to intervene in Edinburgh luxury hotel dispute"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The<\/a>City councillors rejected plans to a build \u2018six-star\u2019 hotel around the Category-A listed Royal High School in Edinbrugh after public objections, so the developers have asked Scottish ministers to intervene.<\/h3>\n

<\/p>\n

The Guardian writes:<\/p>\n

Urbanist Hotels and Duddingston House Properties want to build a \u2018six-star\u2019 hotel in and around the former Royal High School, a grade A-listed neoclassical building on Calton Hill regarded as a jewel of Edinburgh\u2019s world heritage site landscape. After their proposals to erect two large modern wings on either side of the old school were rejected unanimously by city councillors in late August, the developers confirme.. that they had asked ministers to order a full planning inquiry.<\/p>\n

David Orr, the co-founder of Urbanist Hotels, said: \u2018We remain wholly committed to delivering an outstanding scheme for the old Royal High School, reviving a building which has been allowed to slip into a state of disrepair and neglect for nearly 50 years.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2026 The scheme is being opposed by architecture and conservation bodies, including Edinburgh World Heritage Trust (EWHT), the official guardian of its UN listing, the government agency Historic Scotland, the Cockburn Association and the Scottish Civic Trust.<\/p>\n

Cliff Hague, chair of the Cockburn Association and professor emeritus of planning at Heriot-Watt University, said the hotel proposal breached planning and local development policies designed to protect the world heritage site. Hague said: \u2018Probably more than any other building, it symbolises the Edinburgh Enlightenment. It is a neo-Grecian school and it was designed as a school; it is a temple to learning. So to diminish that for a building which could be in Croydon \u2013 no offence to Croydon \u2013 but which is not definitive of that tradition but definitive of a global hotel brand, is just not appropriate.\u2019<\/p>\n

Designed by Thomas Hamilton, the Royal High School was opened in 1829 and occupied by the school for 130 years, but after it relocated to a new greenfield site on the city\u2019s western outskirts in 1968 the building fell into disuse. Close to the Scottish government\u2019s grade A-listed headquarters at St Andrew\u2019s House, the Royal High was mooted as the ideal home for the new Scottish parliament. After the site was deemed unsuitable, in 2009 the council granted Duddingston House Properties a long lease to take over and develop it after an open competition.<\/p>\n

\u2026 Hague said money should not be allowed to win this time. The Hamilton building \u2018is so exceptional you can\u2019t judge it against any other normal measure\u2019, he said, even the promise of \u2018high rollers who wouldn\u2019t come otherwise and who will spend, spend, spend\u2019.<\/p>\n

Read more….<\/a> and find out more about the Cockburn Association<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

City councillors rejected plans to a build \u2018six-star\u2019 hotel around the Category-A listed Royal High School in Edinbrugh after public objections, so the developers have asked Scottish ministers to intervene.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16735","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sector-newsblog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16735","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16735"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16735\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16737,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16735\/revisions\/16737"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16735"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16735"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16735"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}