The building sits on the north corner of St Andrew Square in the heart of the City’s Georgian New Town. Although much of the historic fabric was lost in the 1980s, when it was extensively redeveloped, the impressive marble entrance has been retained, together with a feature stair leading to ornate timber panelled board rooms on the first floor.

The main entrance to the building on the north-side of St Andrew Square will be retained as the new hotel’s primary entrance. Inside, the existing period features and finishes of the entrance areas will be retained and refurbished to define the identity of the new hotel lobby.  The well preserved rooms on the first floor, also rich in period details, will become new meeting rooms and lounges.

The new extension to the rear will extend the capacity of the hotel.  Clad in pale-coloured terracotta it will complement the variety of different coloured stones around it and sit comfortably alongside its neighbours.

The City of Edinburgh is targeting “Net Zero” by 2030. The adaptive reuse of an existing building is an inherently low embodied carbon approach to development and the environmental credentials of the scheme are further enhanced by the installation of air source heat pumps in lieu of gas boilers.

The project is targeting a BREEAM excellent standard and a biodiversity net gain of 200%.  The team are also working with Dalata towards making the hotel operationally net carbon neutral.