By Ian McConnell

A “LONG-AWAITED” redevelopment of a key site in Edinburgh including 148 apartments is to become a reality after planning permission was granted, developer Drum Property Group has declared.

Drum said its proposals for Stead’s Place, near the foot of Leith Walk, had been approved by City of Edinburgh Council today, “heralding a major regeneration of the 2.9-acre site and bringing much-needed investment and interest to this important part of the city centre”.

The Stead’s Place site has been earmarked for development by the council since 2008, Drum noted. It consists largely of an “aged industrial estate and office space”, together with a two-storey sandstone building facing directly on to Leith Walk.

Drum said it would now replace the existing industrial units with 148 high-quality apartments, including 38 affordable homes, as “part of an attractive landscaped residential scheme linking to Pilrig Park and beyond”.

The sandstone building will be retained and refurbished and made available for commercial occupation, providing what Drum describes as “a vibrant local retail and business frontage onto Leith Walk”.

Graeme Bone, group managing director of Drum, said: “Drum has worked hard to ensure our current proposals are aligned with the objectives and plans of local community groups.  We listened carefully to their views, enabling us to draw on the positive characteristics of the surrounding area to create a real sense of place that features a mix of private and affordable housing with a refurbished, vibrant and dynamic retail frontage facing Leith Walk. 

"Our proposals will replace old and tired industrial, office and retail space with new, more flexible, higher quality accommodation for people to live, work, shop, eat, drink and to be entertained in - as well as opening up a safe and landscaped thoroughfare connecting Leith Walk to Pilrig Park. We believe we have responded directly to the objectives and vision the community has for the site. Our proposals now offer the optimum solution for all parties, providing a refurbished retail and office parade combined with a new community of housing to the rear, set in landscaped grounds, enhancing the area’s distinctive cultural feel and identity.” 

Drum said it was "now committed to ensuring the shop frontages on to Leith Walk retain the current individual style and size, reflecting and supporting the current local small trader units at the site whilst refurbishing the office suites for rent on the first floor in a revamped business centre offering".

Mr Bone said: “By retaining and refurbishing the red sandstone buildings facing on to Leith Walk, we are also contributing to the wider regeneration of the local area, providing investment to create an attractive and distinctive destination and focal point which is needed now, more than ever, as the local area recovers from lockdown and the new tram works are progressed. 

"Drum are now looking forward to building on the positive and productive relationships established over recent years to deliver a new development that continues the rich tradition of diversity, independence and interest which makes Leith Walk such an exciting destination in which to live, work and visit.”