Cost of Edinburgh's George Street revamp 'will come down rather than go up' says transport convener Stephen Jenkinson

Councillors will be asked next week to back the full scheme for renewal of what Cllr Jenkinson called one of Scotland’s most important streets - including trees, stone setts and upmarket benches - while keeping options open for savings.

The revamp will see parking down the centre of the street removed, the central carriageway turned into a “cycle street” and general traffic banned between 10.30am and 7pm, Monday to Saturday, and between 12.30pm and 7pm on Sundays.

The full revamp of George Street would see the current parking down the centre of the street removed, buses rerouted, the pavement widened and the carriageway become a 'cycle street'

The project has a three-year timeline, with construction scheduled to start after the Festival in August 2027 and a completion date of August or September 2030.

Concerns were previously expressed about how the bill for the project had increased from the original £28m estimate to nearly £40m.

But Cllr Jenkinson said the cost had been reduced over the past nine months to just over £35m, as a result of more detailed and accurate costings based on final technical information.

He said the cost of diverting utility pipes and cables under the ground - currently estimated at £8.5m - was likely to come down, reducing the price further. “As we go through the process and start much more detailed conversations with the utility companies I think the costings of the project are more likely to decrease than increase because we will have more accurate figures for how much work is involved."

And he stamped on reports that the overall cost of the project could rise to £60m. "I've no idea where that figure came from - it didn't come from me, it didn't come from any officers, but that figure is quite obviously false. The costings for George Street are going in one direction - and that's down, not up."

Asked why he was so bullish about the cost, he replied: "The reason I would say I'm bullish is because the evidence would suggest the costs have been coming down rather than going up."

On utility costs, he said: "Historically those figures get refined and those costings come down rather than go the opposite way." He said on another project one utility company had given the council an initial quote of around £2.5m for moving infrastructure, but when it came to do the work the final bill was £144,000.

A report to next week’s transport and environment committee proposes two “do minimum” options for George Street - “maintenance only” and maintenance plus the removal of parking - should be put on hold.

The full scheme would see the use of natural stone material throughout, including yorkstone slabs on the footway, re-laid traditional setts in the parking areas, whinstone kerbs and setts on the carriageway; premium quality street furniture, raised planters and seating to create “dwell zones”; eight trees - four at the Charlotte Square end and four at the St Andrew Square end; low-level planting within a Sustainable Urban Drainage System (SuDs), linking to the existing drainage system; and a full suite of Hostile Vehicle Measures (HVM) at all junctions.

But the report also outlines lesser options, which would cut out certain elements of the full scheme in order to reduce costs.

A reduced option, priced at £20.3m, would keep yorkstone setts in the footway and dwell zones, as planned in the full scheme, but use asphalt for the carriageway and central spaces and reclaimed granite setts for the parking areas. There would be a reduced specification for the street furniture and there would be no trees.

A basic design - costed at £17.4m - would use asphalt in the carriageway and parking and concrete blocks in the central spaces; there would be no raised planters or trees; standard bins and bike stands would be included; and there would be no Hostile Vehicle mitigation, meaning no measures to prevent traffic entering the area when it is supposed to be excluded.

And an “above ground” design - estimated at £13.5m - would focus on above-ground improvements only, seeking to avoid the need for utility diversions. All soft landscapng would be removed; the current central carriageway and roundabout junctions would remain; and all Hostile Vehicle mitigation would be removed; but there would be additional benches.

Cllr Jenkinson said the recommendation was for the full scheme, but he said options for changes would be kept open. Using tarmac instead of setts, for example, would save around £1.8m, he said.

"We are still moving forward and as we move forward we will clarify and refine as we go. We will make sure we have all the costings for all the various different options and committee will decide as we go through this project how it's going to look.

“My opinion is if a project is worth doing, it's worth doing right. If we got to the stage where we're cutting significant corners, we've got to make sure what we end up with is something we're all proud of and of a quality the people of Edinburgh would expect to see.”

Some funding for the project is expected to come from the Visitor Levy which the council plans to introduce, but most of it is likely to be sought from various Scottish Government and Transport Scotland funding channels.

And Cllr Jenkinson warned that a reduction in the quality of the project, while it may reduce the cost, may also make it harder to obtain the funding.

He said: “When we’re trying to access this external funding, it’s a competitive process. There is a finite amount of money we're trying to access for these projects we want to deliver in Edinburgh, but we're competing with other cities also applying for a finite resource. You need to ensure the end outcome is going to be attractive not only for the people who will be the beneficiaries of that investment but also the people who are providing the finance.”