ONE of the United States' richest cultural philanthropists has called on the Scottish capital to reject a plan to turn an iconic listed building into a hotel.

Carol Colburn Grigor, whose family's Dunard Fund has been a major benefactor of the Edinburgh International Festival, has written an open letter to the city's Lord Provost along with other opponents of the plan to turn the old Royal High School on Calton Hill into a luxury hotel urging against the move.

The Herald: Carol Colburn Grigor

The philanthropist is helping bankroll a rival proposal to move St Mary's Music School into the unused Thomas Hamilton masterpiece and the letter comes ahead of a committee meeting next week to decide whether to approve the hotel plan for the A-listed neoclassical structure, partly responsible for earning the city the title of "Athens of the North".

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Mrs Colburn Grigor, William Moyes, who is the music school chairman, and William Gray Muir, of the Royal High School Preservation Trust, have written to Lord Provost Frank Ross over "the fate of one of Scotland’s most important buildings", when councillors determine the hotel's fate "once and for all".

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he music school backers are criticising plans by opposing joint developer Urbanist Hotels and Duddingston House Properties, after their rival launched an attack on its financial and architectural plans for the building.

They wrote: "This decision is monumental and goes far beyond the redevelopment of a single listed building.

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"Indeed, it is viewed as such a significant decision internationally that a wrong step threatens the city’s hard won UNESCO World Heritage status.

"This is a red line we should not cross for the sake of narrow commercial interests. Not when there is a better option.

The Herald: The city council-owned former Royal High School in Edinburgh where hotel plans are under consideration.
Pic Gordon terris/The Herald (33266195)

"As developer, tenant and funding partner, we have the vision and the resources to create a centre of excellence at the old Royal High that will significantly broaden and enhance access to music and musical education for all, as well as making this exceptional building a true public asset."

The continued: "Our plans will allow Scotland’s de facto national music school to expand from 80 to 120 pupils, while extending its existing outreach programmes, masterclasses and workshops.

"This will offer new opportunities for the most promising young Scottish musicians, attract new talent from beyond Scotland and greatly extend the musical training available to young Edinburgh musicians of all levels of ability."

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The trust said a new 280-seat concert hall will "ease the undersupply" of performance space in Edinburgh and the £30m overall development capable of staging over 100 public performances a year, attracting audiences of over 20,000 annually and contributing approximately £110m to the Edinburgh economy over the next 30 years.

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Urbanist claims its revised plans for the £75m hotel plan that would create hundreds of jobs and bring £30m a year to the local economy.

The music school backers continued: "Does a hotel for elite travellers conjure up the same sense of pride or aspiration as a school for musical young people whose only benchmark for admission is sheer talent and potential?

They continued: "Their attempts to attack us are clumsy and ill founded.

"To claim our widely admired proposal puts the building at greater risk than their approach, which would see it drowned in concrete, is absurd.

"We hope the Council’s response is the unanimous rejection of the hotel proposal."

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David Orr, chairman of co-investor and specialist hotel developer Urbanist Hotels, said: “We have worked hard to create a proposal which reflects the building’s category A listed  status and respects its location, combining the highest standards of design whilst restoring and protecting for generations the unique features throughout the building, not removing heritage fabric.

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“The conservation of the Hamilton building is at the heart of our proposals, both by protecting it and making almost all of it publicly accessible for the first time.

“We understand and appreciate the importance of this building for Edinburgh and Scotland. During the process we have taken time to engage with heritage experts and stakeholders to ensure that our plans maintain the historic centrepiece of Thomas Hamilton’s original building and respect the setting by understanding it, accommodating Icomos guidelines in our methodology."