This is the largest project the practice has ever contemplated and our role has been three-fold: to master-plan the entire site, to design the exterior of three office buildings working alongside CDA Architects, and to be completely responsible for the design of a new 192 bed five star hotel. A second three star hotel, designed by our colleagues, Sutherland Hussey Architects, is also part of our master-plan. Tiger Developments approached the practice when the site was for sale and we were delighted when their bid was successful in the summer of 2006.
Unusually, the site has never been developed, having been converted from pasture into goods yards in the mid 19th century. The tracks were removed in the 1960s and the site is currently a car park, although it has been subject to at least two planning consents since then, the most recent by EDI, proposed a mostly office and retail development and received consent in 2006.
We have adopted a radically different approach from the EDI scheme. We have expanded the concept of what constitutes the Haymarket to make substantial amounts of new public space which coincide with the location of the railway tunnels and therefore avoiding the requirement to construct above them. In the centre of the site is placed a major triangular office building and this defines the edge of the new Haymarket space. Along the Morrison Link is a second office building and forming the final side of a triangular public space to the rear is the third. The sensitive boundary with the existing “Colony” housing at Dalry is where the three star hotel is located, the rear of which has been deliberately modelled to respond to both the intimate spaces of the Colony streets and also to give courtyards onto which gable end windows look.
The most notable feature of the entire project is the construction of a stand alone monument-like five star hotel, which given its proximity to the increasingly busy Haymarket station, will take its place as Edinburgh’s third railway hotel alongside the familiar landmarks of the Balmoral and the Caledonian hotels. Like these hotels, this new building will also deliberately be substantially higher than its surroundings and will contribute to the evolving skyline of the city, but without blocking any significant views of either the Castle or the nearby St Mary’s Cathedral. Most of the social functions of the hotel are placed at the top of the building, acting as a beacon at night with the location functioning as a gateway building marking the entry into the World Heritage Site when approaching from the west.
The public open space designed by our colleagues at Gross Max, landscape architects, is predominately pedestrian, but with a one-way vehicle traffic for access and service vehicles only. A 450 space underground carpark replaces the existing parking.
The Planning application for these proposals were approved by Edinburgh City Council at the end of June 2008.
