THE former Royal High School on Edinburgh’s Calton Hill was built by the council as a beacon to the Scottish Enlightenment – providing the highest quality education to the brightest youngsters of the city (irrespective of background). The council commissioned one of the finest buildings in Scotland in one of its most prominent locations for these children. This is a building which says a lot about how we think of ourselves as a nation.
To the bemusement of everyone involved in the protection and conservation of the former Royal High School, developer Duddingston House Properties (DHP) has now put forward yet another proposal to turn this national monument into an elite hotel, promising the most expensive accommodation in the country and “the mother of all whisky bars”.
DHP’s previous planning application was turned down, even after a major redesign. It launched an appeal on the basis that these plans were the smallest commercially viable option, but suddenly halted the appeal to somehow come up with a new “smallest commercially viable option”. All this when there is a fully funded alternative, unanimously granted planning consent and ready to start.
Under our proposal the building will be fully protected and given a highly appropriate public purpose as a new home for Scotland’s national music school. Returning the building to its original use as a school, centred on a spectacular public concert hall, would provide a uniquely broad range of benefits to the City which cannot be replicated elsewhere.
This building is one of the most important in Scotland and under the trust’s plan for St Mary’s Music School will draw in one of the biggest philanthropic gifts the country has ever seen. Where the hotel would build a five-storey glass block, our scheme provides a new public garden. It’s also worth remembering that the profits of the hotel would be returned to their headquarters overseas and not benefit the people of Scotland.
William Gray Muir,
Chairman, Royal High School Preservation Trust,
46 Charlotte Square,
Edinburgh.
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