News

Planning approval secured for major new student accommodation scheme

Acting on behalf of York based development company S Harrison, Turley has helped secure planning permission to create a major new student accommodation scheme on a disused site near Edinburgh’s Murrayfield Stadium.

We provided expert Planning, Sustainability, Economics and Strategic Communications services for the development which will offer 394 bedrooms, including 48 studios and a range of cluster apartments, each with between six and nine bedrooms. It will incorporate secure cycle parking for every resident, landscaped grounds and communal space including breakout study rooms, a games area, gym, cinema and laundry. There will also be a suite that local community organisations can use.

The Gorgie site, on the corner of Westfield Road and Westfield Avenue, is currently home to a vacant retail unit.

David Clancy, development director at S Harrison, said:

“Whilst we remain very active in our Yorkshire heartland, we’re continuing to develop relationships outside the region and particularly in Edinburgh, where we currently have five projects with a gross development value of approximately £150million.

“We are clearly delighted to secure approval to redevelop this brownfield site into much-needed student accommodation. The development’s high-quality design will enhance the local streetscape, as well as bringing new residents into this part of Edinburgh, who are economically and socially active, which will add to the area’s vibrancy and demographic diversity.

“Crucially, it will also free up general housing stock, in accordance with the Council’s student guidance. We’re now looking forward to getting these proposals underway in the coming months and will continue to work closely with the Council and local community to deliver this development.”

S Harrison has made a significant investment in Edinburgh in recent years and is now exploring further opportunities across Scotland’s central belt. We have submitted another planning application on behalf of the company, to create a student accommodation scheme on Gorgie Road next to the Water of Leith, consisting of 269-bedrooms and a range of high-quality amenities.

We also provided services for Buchan House on St Andrew Square in Edinburgh’s New Town, which S Harrison is currently transforming into a 72-bedroom Malmaison hotel with bar and brasserie. Planning approval was also recently secured to transform a 1970s office building in the Haymarket area into a new hotel development, and S Harrison is exploring opportunities for a 0.6 hectare site on Ocean Drive in Leith.

21 October 2019