Plans to create luxury hotel at Edinburgh's Royal High School rejected

The developers of a £75m luxury hotel on the site of the former Royal High School in Edinburgh have vowed to fight on after their controversial plan was narrowly rejected by city councillors.

Urbanist Hotels and Duddingston House Properties (DHP) had lodged an application to turn the school on the A-listed Calton Hill site into a 147-bedroom hotel to be operated by Rosewood Hotels & Resorts. Yesterday's planning meeting at the City of Edinburgh Council rejected the development by a vote of eight to seven.

Taco van Heusden, managing director and founder of Urbanist Hotels with chairman David Orr, said that they were "terribly disappointed" by the refusal and were now considering all options, including resubmitting the plans.

One option would be to reduce the size of the proposed hotel which was set to include three restaurant and bars, a spa, fitness centre, indoor swimming pool and 3,200 sq ft ballroom.

The plans, which attracted criticism from heritage groups, included two new wings containing the hotel bedrooms, set away from the original Category A-listed property, built by Thomas Hamilton in 1829.

It is expected that there will now be a battle to secure permission for the development of the site between the hotel developers and the Royal High School Preservation Trust which has proposed to turn the building into a new home for St Mary’s Music School.

DHP and Urbanist Hotels won a competition to develop the site by 2022, five years ago.

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