Development plans progress for Dundas Street's Centrum and Bupa Houses

The two buildings were bought last year for £10 million.

The buildings are known to many as Centrum House and Bupa House.

An online consultation on plans for major redevelopment of Centrum House and Bupa House on Dundas Street has been announced for late October.

A Proposal of Application Notice (PAN) has been submitted for the works, which will see the adjoining office buildings demolished and replaced with a mixed-use development including retail, cafe/restaurant and office uses as well as housing.

An online consultation will be open between October 26 and November 13, with members of the public able to submit comments to a website address yet to be announced.

There will be a live online event on October 28, with representatives of the developers answering questions from the public.

The PAN was submitted by Scott Hobbs Planning on behalf of MMMRARS Dundas Ltd, a new company created last year before the £10 million purchase of the two office buildings.

The deal reunited two families, Mactaggart and Mickel, which split their business operations almost 80 years ago.

The two families operated as Mactaggart & Mickel for almost two decades between 1925 and 1943.

After the split Mactaggart & Mickel continued as a Mickel-only concern, which the Mactaggart family ran Mactaggart Family & Partners.

Now the two businesses have joined with Millard Estates Ltd and Edinburgh-based Rennick Property to develop the two office blocks, which were purchased in October last year.

The architect for the project will be Morgan McDonnell.

The two adjacent buildings sit at the corner of Dundas Street and Fettes Row, and total 45,000 square feet.

Both boast top floor views across the city and towards the castle.

They are across the road from the planned development at the former Royal Bank of Scotland offices, known as ‘New Town North’.

This 5.9 acre site between Dundas Street and George V Park is one of the largest developments currently planned in the city, with existing buildings set to be replaced by new homes, retail outlets, office space, a hotel and gym and health facilities.

An advertisement from Cuthbert White property management suggests that the top floor of Centrum House will be retained as an office building.

The firm is currently advertising the 3000 sq. ft top floor office suite as soon-to-be refurbished “ good quality, bright, open-plan office space with castle views to the south”, emphasising that the development will provide “clean, flexible and sensibly-priced offices.”

Upon purchase of the two buildings in 2019 Andre Mickel, director of Mactaggart & Mickel said: “With the number of jobs in the city set to grow rapidly over the coming years, there is a need for quality office space at affordable rental prices and we will continue to invest in these buildings in the future.”

It is not yet known the extent to which plans for the building’s use have been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.