Gareth Hoskins’ plans to redevelop the Royal High School on Calton Hill
Inspectors from the UK body that advises Unesco’s world heritage committee – the organisation that designates buildings or cities as World Heritage Sites – visited Edinburgh earlier this month to investigate its custodianship of Unesco World Heritage Site status.
The fact-finding mission by the advisers from ICOMOS UK, the International Council on Monuments and Sites, comes as two extremely controversial schemes have been proposed in the city.
Earlier this year, a hotel group put forward plans by leading Scottish architect Gareth Hoskins Architects to redevelop the Grade A-listed Royal High School on Calton Hill (pictured above), a historic site to the east of Edinburgh’s Princes Street that forms part of the World Heritage Site.
The project would add new “ziggurats” on either side of the school, which was previously considered as a site for the Scottish Parliament and forms part of a cluster of monuments.
And in August, Edinburgh City Council council awarded planning permission to the six star “ribbon” hotel designed by Jestico & Whiles. The Central Hotel forms part of the £850m redevelopment of the city’s St James Centre, designed by BDP.
This decision to grant planning permission was taken against the recommendations of the council’s planning officers. One concern is the building’s height.
Jestico & Whiles’ six star “ribbon” hotel
But ICOMOS’s concern is due to the fact that Edinburgh City Council, along with Historic Scotland and Edinburgh World Heritage, is jointly responsible for protecting and managing the city as a World Heritage Site.
The ICOMOS visit therefore focused on how the council, Historic Scotland and Edinburgh World Heritage were managing the World Heritage Site.
During the visit the team, led by architect James Simpson, vice chair of ICOMOS UK, met with members of the council and the two conservation bodies as well as visiting the St James Centre site.
The panel of experts will now report their findings to Unesco and a formal investigation into the Old and New Town’s continued status as a World Heritage Site could follow.
Construction Manager understands that the visit was timed to draw attention to the proposed development of Royal High School, and the potential impact that approval could have on World Heritage Site status.
"The planning decision at St James Centre triggered interest from ICOMOS, although technically this wasn’t the focus of the visit. The bigger things such as determining if process and management of the site were within Unesco guidelines were being looked at."
Spokesman, Edinburgh World Heritage
Gareth Hoskins Architects’ plans to redevelop the building have met with fierce resistance from conservation groups in the city.
Historic Scotland, one of managing bodies of the World Heritage Site, has formally objected to the £75m development arguing that it would cause “unacceptable harm” to the site.
A spokesman for Edinburgh World Heritage told Construction Manager: “There is no immediate threat to the World Heritage Site status, it’s more a question of investigating the processes and how the site is being managed at the present time.
“The planning decision at St James Centre triggered interest from ICOMOS, although technically this wasn’t the focus of the visit. The bigger things such as determining if process and management of the site were within Unesco guidelines were being looked at,” the spokesman continued.
The panel did not directly investigate the proposed development of the High School, which adds ziggurat buildings on either side of the former school, as the project has not yet been granted planning permission and therefore does not fall within ICOMOS’s remit.
Adam Wilkinson, director of Edinburgh World Heritage, told the Guardian that a decision to build the Hoskins hotel could threaten the Unesco status: “If the old Royal High [School] proposals go through then it will be seen that our systems for protecting the World Heritage Site are not functioning as they should,” he said.
“Historic Scotland couldn’t state more clearly the impact on the world heritage site, and if it’s not working properly then there is absolutely a case for people from outside to investigate.”
