from a long list of over 50 applicants, Duddingston House Properties won a contract with the City of Edinburgh Council. The brief specified that the former Royal High School was to be fully restored, that it was to become ‘a hotel of international standing’ and that no public funding was to be used. Furthermore, it was deemed important that the public should have access to the building. DHP and their partners, the Urbanist Group have submitted planning applications to the City of Edinburgh Council, seeking consent to restore the former RHS, remove the later buildings from the site, and use the cleared space to create accommodation for a world-class hotel.

Internationally renowned hoteliers Rosewood are the selected operating partners. Rosewood are currently restoring the Hotel de Crillon in Paris, and they also run the famous Carlyle in New York. The proposal for the former Royal High school has secured £75m to underpin the investment and represents one of the biggest opportunities for a range of jobs, training and economic impacts that Scotland’s capital has seen in years.

This opportunity is in line with other significant and crucial lifts that the city is experiencing. The arrival of Harvey Nichols, now seen as an outstanding success, encouraged other internationally outstanding brands to come to Edinburgh. Edinburgh Airport is driving the city towards the achievable goal of becoming a true European Gateway city, with new links to the Middle East, Far East and North America. The EICC is setting new standards in global excellence for conference and event hosting. This new hotel will attract the kind of business and leisure traveller who will choose to use Scotland and Edinburgh as a destination or stopover, and it will encourage other worldclass enterprises to realise Scotland is an ambitious country again.

In summary the hotel will generate over 800 jobs either directly or indirectly for the city and over 900 jobs for Scotland. It will secure £31 million per annum in GDP for the Edinburgh economy and a further £38.7 million per annum for Scotland. Hotel guests are projected to spend £13.6 million per annum within Edinburgh, and annual tax receipts are projected to be £15.9 million.

The Full Application (15/03989/FUL) is here:
https://citydev-portal.edinburgh.gov.uk/idoxpa-web/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=makeComment&keyVal=NTYAX6EWFPK00 

The Application for Listed Building Consent (15/03990/LBC) is here:
https://citydev-portal.edinburgh.gov.uk/idoxpa-web/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=makeComment&keyVal=NTYBMFEWFPN00

To lodge your support, please follow the links and complete both parts.