Plans to redevelop the former Scottish Widows headquarters building in Edinburgh have been approved by the city council.
The net zero carbon, mixed-use proposals for the site on Dalkeith Road were submitted by Schroders Capital’s real estate division and Corran Properties.
They will see the partial demolition and redevelopment of the grade-A listed office building to create 200,000 sq ft of sustainable workspace and the development of a residential quarter comprising 174 flats and affordable housing.
The original building, made up of 12 hexagonal offices, was designed for Scottish Widows in the early 1970s and opened in July 1976. It remained Scottish Widows’ headquarters until it moved to its present building on Morrison Street in 1995. The building was most recently occupied by Lloyds Banking Group until March 2020 and, at its peak, housed 2,300 employees.
The design has often been attributed to the acclaimed Scottish architect Sir Basil Spence, but was in fact the work of John Hardie Glover, Spence’s partner, and senior assistant John Marnoch Legge.
The current development team was challenged with finding a solution for an office building that was no longer fit for purpose, and crucially had an EPC rating of G – the lowest of any building in the country. The redevelopment will see five of the hexagonal blocks demolished. Once works are complete, the office building will target sustainability credentials including Well Platinum, BREEAM Excellent and EPC A, while adopting circular economy principles and minimising embodied carbon during construction.
Peter Lowe, fund manager at Schroders Capital’s real estate team, said: “Securing this planning consent is a key step to securing a sustainable future for the site along with the delivery of new apartments for the benefit of the City of Edinburgh.
“We have sought to balance the historic nature of the building and its setting, with the design of a mixed-use scheme that will meet the requirements of future residents and modern corporate occupiers.“
Corran Properties’ Nick Ball said: “We considered every possible option for the site, assessed against the most stringent current and future sustainability standards. This has culminated in the consented mixed-use development, one that will retain and enhance this existing office building, and provide much-needed housing for Edinburgh.”
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