As discussed at recent NTBCC meetings and consistent with the recent presentation by representatives from GVA and Michael Laird Architects, amended proposals have now been lodged on the Edinburgh Planning portal covering changes to the proposed new buildings fronting Fettes Row and Royal Crescent.

These amendments can be viewed on the planning portal (under the original application 16/05454/PPP. The 35 additional documents include 22 new drawings as well as the expected updates to the original Design & Access Statement & the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA).

Currently, given updates to the EIA, the final date for comments to be lodged is 5 January 2018. We have requested that this should be extended given that the consultation spans the festive period. Edinburgh Council have now confirmed an extension for all comments to Monday 15 January 2018.

From initial inspection, the proposals would seem to be consistent with the October NTBCC presentation – reducing the height of the 4 blocks on Fettes Row to 7 storeys (from 8) and more importantly, halving the height of the blocks fronting Royal Crescent in response to the concerns expressed by Historic Environment Scotland. This results in a 20% reduction in the total floor area and a reduction in the maximum number of residential units from 400 to an expected 300 (assuming a minimum-acceptable Class 4 (Office) use).

Whilst we welcome these changes, we will look more closely at the detail followed by a discussion at the next NTBCC meeting on 11 December.