Alumno Group has lodged a planning application for a 191-bedroom purpose-built student accommodation scheme at Jock’s Lodge in Edinburgh.
The student accommodation provider has filed plans with the City of Edinburgh Council for the development, which is located on the corner of Restalrig Road South and London Road.
The proposals also include ground-floor commercial space. Alumno said existing local businesses on the site all agreed to its sale and are “committed to the redevelopment of the site”, since its facilities were “no longer commercially viable”.
Following an extensive pre-application and public engagement process, Alumno reduced the site’s initial massing from eight storeys to seven. It also revised floor-to-floor heights and shortened the parapet.
Additionally, it increased its commercial area offer, with additional provision for an outdoor terraced area. The proposed commercial space will include a new community local food and drink use, replacing the neighbouring Limelite pub but operating under the same local ownership.
Under the plans, the development will comprise a mix of single bedrooms with shared kitchens and larger studio-style bedrooms. Facilities include a ground-floor lounge, study area, gym and social spaces, with cycle storage and laundry.
External amenity provision includes a rear landscaped courtyard and external terraces at roof level.
The Willow pub, which operates on the site and is let by Heineken, has relocated to Musselburgh and is trading as Willow on High Street following an agreement with Heineken. Alumno outlined its hopes that it will operate both at this new location and at Jock’s Lodge until the latter is redeveloped.
David Campbell, founder of Alumno, said: “This exciting mixed-use scheme will serve to ease the acute housing pressures by providing greater options while addressing the increasing and well-documented, student housing demand by providing modern, high-quality and well-managed accommodation.
“We have listened to the responses of the local community through our thorough consultation process and have reduced the height of the building to accommodate this feedback.
“Employment and investment will be generated both during construction and once complete, increasing footfall to local shops and also serving to provide a new sustainable food/drink outlet for the community, including outdoor space. We are committed to being a good neighbour and believe our plans will make the best and most positive impact on what is a highly constrained and challenging urban site.”
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