Edinburgh hotels: Plans submitted for 60-bed luxury hotel near Princes Street to replace underused buildings

Developers say the ‘bespoke apartment style rooms’ will create a new lease of life in the area

Plans to build a new luxury hotel on the corner of Princes Street and Hanover Street have been submitted to the council, which developers say will bring a new lease of life to five under-used buildings in the city centre.

Property developers RRH Hanover A Ltd, who submitted their application last month, say their plans to restore a series of B and C listed buildings at Hanover Street and Rose Street will also include the creation of rooftop terraces, a fitness studio, a guest lounge overlooking the Mound and Princes Street Gardens and the reintroduction of a tearoom on Hanover Street.

RRH spokesperson, David Grieve said: “We are incredibly excited to be submitting a planning application for this development, which includes the delivery of 60 unique and individually styled flexible stay hotel suites and luxury bedrooms, as well as returning the fabulous Crawford’s Tea Rooms to their former glory.

Property developers RRH Hanover A Ltd say the project will bring a new lease of life to the area

“It is anticipated that guests will be discerning and experienced travellers, looking for a boutique stay in a prime location, but without the fuss of a busy city centre hotel. Offering a calm, flexible and luxurious stay, they will have the opportunity to enjoy unique views across the New and Old Towns of Edinburgh and the Firth of Forth beyond the capital’s skyline.”

Mr Grieve added: “Delivering a highly sustainable development, this will consolidate unused space above the retail units into a series of linked properties, and conscious of its location, we have been highly sensitive to retaining all buildings and features considered to be of architectural and historic merit.”

The applicant said the hotel is designed to operate as a bespoke apartment style destination, with each room and suite unique and individually styled and the 60 bedrooms will respect the historical context of surrounding buildings. They added the development will serve to consolidate the unused space above several commercial units into a series of interlinked properties, with ground floor units reorganised to make the most of their central location, giving opportunities to businesses leasing the ground floor retail units.

The site is located at 7-11 and 15-19 Hanover Street which extends back to a former bookmaker at 40 Rose Street. The proposed site also includes 70-71 Princes Street which was once occupied by a dairy at the rear of the building (38A Rose Street).

The site is located at 7-11 and 15-19 Hanover Street which extends back to a former bookmaker at 40 Rose Street. The proposed site also includes 70-71 Princes Street which was once occupied by a dairy at the rear of the building (38A Rose Street)

Developers stated in their application that luxury hotel will provide ‘bespoke rooms and suites’ in a range of sizes for up to four people and works will include the restoration of ‘Georgian frontages and upper floors on Hanover Street to provide high quality commercial uses at ground and basement and hotel/tea room entrance’ in addition to developing frontages at Rose Street and Rose Street Lane ‘to provide welcoming and better proportioned buildings to better relate to surroundings.’

The planned development includes the reintroduction of a tearoom on Hanover Street once occupied by Crawford’s Tearooms, with the aim of returning the site to its former glory and reviving the building’s historical charm. Crawford’s Tearooms was founded in the 1920s by William Crawford with the rooms being decorated and furnished by the famed Edinburgh artist Robert Burns, a key figure in the Scottish Art Nouveau scene in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.