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Royal High School site in Edinburgh goes back on the market - BBC News

 

The former Royal High School building is to go back on the market after City of Edinburgh Council stripped the developer of its 120-year-lease.

The council's finance committee made the decision on Thursday.

It had the choice to continue with the lease, retake control of the building, give the lease to music school backers or put the lease on the market.

The A-listed landmark, built in 1829 by Thomas Hamilton, has been empty since the school relocated in 1968.

 

 

Empty since 1968 !!!!!.....a disgrace that in todays world that is allowed to happen and more so a real disgrace that planners etc have such power for so long

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I hope the music school backers find another investor and return the building to proper functionality.

 

I'm very happy that the hoteliers got told tae bolt.

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I was at a function and Malcolm Fraser the architect gave a talk. He said that he was asked years ago by the council to come up with suggestions for what the building could be used for as it was empty. After strong deliberation he went back and told them it would make an amazing school. 

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Seymour M Hersh
27 minutes ago, Bigsmak said:

I was at a function and Malcolm Fraser the architect gave a talk. He said that he was asked years ago by the council to come up with suggestions for what the building could be used for as it was empty. After strong deliberation he went back and told them it would make an amazing school. 

 

For being a creative he's not very creative. :lol:

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manaliveits105

Should have been the Scottish parliament and saved us a fortune - although Donaldsons School at Haymarket would have made another wonderful parliament - near the airport - train station and great for security .

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Weakened Offender
2 minutes ago, manaliveits105 said:

Should have been the Scottish parliament and saved us a fortune - although Donaldsons School at Haymarket would have made another wonderful parliament - near the airport - train station and great for security .

 

😂

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6 minutes ago, manaliveits105 said:

Should have been the Scottish parliament and saved us a fortune - although Donaldsons School at Haymarket would have made another wonderful parliament - near the airport - train station and great for security .

I think so too. 

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35 minutes ago, Roxy Hearts said:

I think so too. 

And the old Scottish Office building just over the road for offices for the MSPs. I remember thinking at the time it made sense, spend some of the cash on a tunnel between the two and it’s basically one workplace.

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17 minutes ago, Tazio said:

And the old Scottish Office building just over the road for offices for the MSPs.

 

Is that still in existence? Can't picture it.

 

Mind you...I just this moment discovered on Google maps that there's a Burns monument!

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I didn't like the extended wings on the 5 star Hotel or care for the music school idea much, so quite glad it's gone back on the market. A difficult and expensive site to develop.

 

Also, the Scottish Parliament is a fantastic building in my opinion. Bold design that fits absolutely perfectly within the landscape it's been plonked on. The outside entrance is the only slight disappointment. I love it. 

 

 

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56 minutes ago, Cade said:

RHS was nowhere near big enough to house the new Parliament.

Perfect opportunity to get rid of a good portion of them!

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1 hour ago, Boof said:

 

Is that still in existence? Can't picture it.

 

Mind you...I just this moment discovered on Google maps that there's a Burns monument!

 

New St Andrews House is where the fish does her daily propaganda broadcast.

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If it didn't work as a high school in the 60's it's not going to work as a school now.

Edinburgh's heritage bodies have had too much say in this one imo. The hotel proposal at least retained the history of the original, converting it to modern, public use.

A music school for 80 privately educated creme de la creme's, seems a bit elitist imho.

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The Natural Order
1 hour ago, frankblack said:

 

New St Andrews House is where the fish does her daily propaganda broadcast.

St Andrews House is where Wee Nippy broadcasts from. New St Andrews House was demolished along with the St James Centre.

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1 hour ago, frankblack said:

 

New St Andrews House is where the First Minister does her daily propaganda broadcast.

 

Is that not Old SAH?

 

Now that I've located them I'm liking Tazio's idea. No idea what ORHS is like inside, of course :lol: 

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57 minutes ago, Boof said:

 

Is that not Old SAH?

 

Now that I've located them I'm liking Tazio's idea. No idea what ORHS is like inside, of course :lol: 

 

Ok - I've never known the difference, and have a brother that works there.

 

:facepalm:

 

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5 minutes ago, frankblack said:

 

Ok - I've never known the difference, and have a brother that works there.

 

 

Only going by what I can gather online but New SAH was  modern, asbestos-riddled, carbuncle near the St James' Centre. Now no more.

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Just now, Boof said:

 

Only going by what I can gather online but New SAH was  modern, asbestos-riddled, carbuncle near the St James' Centre. Now no more.

 

Yeah - that was a horrendous building you would pass going to the bus station from the Leith Street side of St James' Centre.  I've seen photos of what was there before it and you just shake your head - some of the good buildings that got demolished in the 50s to make way for eyesores is staggering.

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Had a few meetings in New St Andrew's House over the years - it was a lot worse on the inside than how it looked on the outside 😳

 

Spend a lot of time in St Andrew's House, bit not since March 🙄

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The 79 group ahead of their time on how to accept an election result 🤔


“Sillars, who was elected as the SNP's Executive Vice-Chairman for Policy, was put in charge of the campaign with the details planned by the Demonstrations Committee.[10] He led the campaign on 16 October 1981 by breaking in, with five other 79 Group members, to the Royal High School in Edinburgh which had been converted to be the Scottish Assembly. The intention had been to symbolically read out a declaration on what the Scottish Assembly would have done to counter unemployment, but the participants were arrested before they had the chance, and a planned later mass demonstration was cancelled.[11] Sillars was later fined for wilful damage by breaking a window to get in.[12] Many in the SNP were uncomfortable with this sort of action; three senior members were quoted in The Scotsmanopposing the occupation.”

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The old Royal High doesn't really lend itself to any practical use without significant develop around it. With the rejection of the hotel plan, I don't see any other developer coming forward anytime soon.

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It should have been the Scottish parliament . It’s a beautiful building . No doubt it’ll be a hotel 

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13 minutes ago, JamesM48 said:

It should have been the Scottish parliament . It’s a beautiful building . No doubt it’ll be a hotel 

It's not big enough for the parliament James.

The existing parliament building is barely big enough. The original Holyrood design ran out of space, and had to shoehorn extra accommodation into it's neighbour Queensbury House.

If The Royal High had been selected, as many wished,  the additional space demanded by MSPs would have enveloped the Greek building, beyond recognition. Much worse than the hotel building which has recently (and wrongly imo) been rejected.

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2 hours ago, felix said:

It's not big enough for the parliament James.

The existing parliament building is barely big enough. The original Holyrood design ran out of space, and had to shoehorn extra accommodation into it's neighbour Queensbury House.

If The Royal High had been selected, as many wished,  the additional space demanded by MSPs would have enveloped the Greek building, beyond recognition. Much worse than the hotel building which has recently (and wrongly imo) been rejected.

Which is why I mentioned earlier in the thread using the existing building over the road as office and admin space. Then the High School would have just been the debating chamber and other rooms used for ceremonial use and media suites. The issue with any parliament building is that every MP needs an office and the actual debating chambers are a small(ish) part of the whole building. 

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We've already got a parliament, so it's a moot point. You would also have required alternative accommodation for the 1500 staff currently working out of St Andrew's House.

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11 minutes ago, ArcticJambo said:

I'm all for rectifying mistakes of the past, and there's plenty of them attributable to the CEC.

Aw man, you missed an open goal for getting fud points there by calling them the clowncil. 

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4 hours ago, Tazio said:

Which is why I mentioned earlier in the thread using the existing building over the road as office and admin space. Then the High School would have just been the debating chamber and other rooms used for ceremonial use and media suites. The issue with any parliament building is that every MP needs an office and the actual debating chambers are a small(ish) part of the whole building. 

 

Even if both buidings  provided the necessary accommodation, it would surely be a backward-looking, parsimonious country that would build their new parliament within the confines of two Grade A listed buildings, conceived for other purposes, offering only constrained options for redevelopment.  New parliaments should reflect forward looking optimism. Yup, it went tits up budget-wise; some of the best building do. Even the original Royal High School .

If the end product's good enough, overspend's soon forgotten. Imagine the SP operating from an old school hall, it would be another reason, for anyone with a gripe, to claim how miserly and inward looking the government actually were.

 

2 hours ago, Boof said:

ORHS looks pretty good to me - at least for a debating chamber...

https://www.bcd-urbex.com/old-royal-high-school-new-parliament-house-edinburgh-scotland/

 

 Aye, for debating whether the school sports day should go ahead, or who should be house rugby captain   :wink: 👍

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5 hours ago, Dunks said:

You would also have required alternative accommodation for the 1500 staff currently working out of St Andrew's House.

 

At the time there must've been a chunk of land available somewhere - maybe near Holyrood? :whistling:

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4 minutes ago, Boof said:

 

At the time there must've been a chunk of land available somewhere - maybe near Holyrood? :whistling:

 

Anything to avoid Jacob's Ladder :D

 

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2 minutes ago, davemclaren said:

Only time I was ever in Old St. Andrew’s House was for an interview for a job with GCHQ. 

And now years later you’ve been given a mission of spying on a bunch of dafties on a message board. Not exactly Bond is it? 

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2 minutes ago, Tazio said:

And now years later you’ve been given a mission of spying on a bunch of dafties on a message board. Not exactly Bond is it? 

We all have to find our level in life. 

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