Edinburgh south side building to be demolished to make way for 172-bed student housing
Plans to build new student housing in the south side of the city have been approved by the council.
The former Scottish Government building at 140 Causewayside has been empty since 2023 after previous occupants, the Scottish Law Commission, relocated to Parliament Square.
The new six-storey student accommodation will provide a total of 172 bedrooms comprising of 155 bed spaces shared across 22 cluster flats with each flat containing shared kitchen and lounge facilities. There will be a further 17 bed spaces in individual studio rooms.
A previous application to develop the site was refused via a 5–4 vote in June 2024, but revised plans were submitted last September to demolish the building to make way for new student accommodation.
Developers said the proposal will ‘regenerate an underused site’ which was described in the planning statement as ‘a 60-year-old vacant, derelict, highly inefficient office building with limited architectural or design merit.’
The 1,789 sqm site in Newington will also include a new courtyard area, study spaces, a communal lounge, outdoor seating, and a new area of public realm at the front of the building.
The building will be fully wheelchair accessible and no car parking spaces are proposed for the site. The development will provide cycle storage for 87 bikes, around 50 per cent provision, which meets the requirements of the Edinburgh design guidance.
Developers Balfour Beatty Investments Ltd carried out a feasibility study to consider the possible reuse of the building but found ‘considerable challenges’ including a ‘prohibitive hybrid building structure’, shallow foundations that ‘would prevent the provision of a basement level’ and evidence of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) within the building.
Planning documents note natural stone will be ‘the predominant material on the primary elevation facing onto Causewayside’ with ‘dark masonry elements introduced at ground level and on the northern gable.’
It adds: “A high-quality, metal-clad upper storey, set back from the frontage, caps the building, helping to reduce perceived massing and providing a refined architectural finish at roof level.
“The ground floor amenity spaces and reception area will have glazing to the front elevation, in order to enhance outlook into the street and provide passive surveillance and activate the streetscape.”
The Causewayside building is within a 16-minute walk of the University of Edinburgh’s Kings Building Campus and an 18-minute bus journey from Edinburgh Napier University Merchiston Campus.