PLANS for student flats with bike parking spaces for all 198 residents and their visitors have been given the go-ahead.
Edinburgh City Council backed the Summix Capital move to build the flats on the former Boots optician and Ashley Ann showroom on London Road opposite Meadowbank Stadium.
It includes a mix of clusters and studios together with a community and office space, student common areas, a laundry and underground bin stores.
On completion, Edinburgh based charity People Know How will locate their headquarters on the ground floor of the building. A number of students already volunteer to work with the charity.
READ MORE: Car-free cycle routes for Edinburgh city centre unveiled
The developer said that because of the sustainability aims of the location, only four parking spaces will be delivered, two accessible spaces and two to accommodate cars for the for the City Car Club, now known as Enterprise Car Club.
The focus on cycling is a key part of the proposal, with one to one cycling storage provided on-site in a covered and secure location.
There will also be racks available for visitors and staff, giving a total of 208 bicycle spaces.
It is claimed energy-efficient design will enhance its green credentials.
READ MORE: Canongate student flats plan
The development will deliver an estimated £15 million of investment in its construction and will also bring “vitality, economic and social benefits” to the district, generating 85 jobs through the construction period.
A spokesman for Summix Capital said: “This high-quality student accommodation proposal will serve to redevelop a location in previous commercial and industrial use.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here