Plans For 166 Room, Office to Hotel Conversion Submitted to Edinburgh Planners

Main Photo: The new Resident Hotel – imagined

Date: May 2020

Location: West End, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK

Name: Was Meldrum House, as an office building…likely to be The Resident Edinburgh

No. of Keys: 166

Seller: Meldrum House was built in the late 1950s as a replacement for the former St Andrew’s Free Church, and constructed as a purpose built office block. Since then it has been in continuous use however has, like many buildings from this era, suffered from neglect and a lack of proper maintenance.

Buyer: Plans have been unveiled for a 166-bedroom hotel in Edinburgh’s West End. The plans have been submitted with Edinburgh City Council for the development of the HMRC office in Drumsheugh Gardens and include a planning statement by Michael Laird Architects for Cannon Capital Developments. The building is currently wrapped in material over concrete cladding.

The planning statement said: “Meldrum House was built in the late 1950s as a replacement for the former St Andrew’s Free Church, constructed as a purpose built office block. “Recently, the concrete cladding began to spall and fall away from the main structure, resulting in the building being overclad with a protective membrane.

“As the office market moves to more upmarket offerings, the building is no longer suitable for office accommodation, either in its current or potentially refurbished form.”

It added: “The most suitable and commercially effective approach for the building’s redevelopment is to refurbish it as a hotel, a use that suits the building’s existing layout and complements the surrounding area. “Our proposals are to refurbish the building to provide 37,000 sq ft of accommodation consisting of 166 bedrooms with supporting accommodation including reception, back of house and a resident’s lounge at ground floor.”

Cannon Capital Developments plans community engagement with the West End Community Council, the Drumsheugh Gardens Upkeep Committee and neighbours.

The hotel brand The Resident is lined up as operator. Rebranded in February from Nadler, it has four hotels in central locations in London – Soho, Victoria, Kensington, Covent Garden – and one in Liverpool.

THPT Comment: We always like it when hotel development becomes “old building restoration”, so well done to Mr Orr and his team at The Resident.

First Seen: Herald Scotland

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