Edinburgh Princes Street fire: Pavement set to return to pedestrian use by end of year
Council made good use of closure to carry out repairs and maintenance
Most of the pavement on Edinburgh's Princes Street outside the former Debenhams store ravaged by a fire in July will reopen to pedestrians by the end of December, the city council has said.
Princes Street was closed for seven weeks at the peak of the summer tourist season as engineers worked to stabilise the shell of the building following the July 9 blaze.
The street was re-opened on August 28, but a section of pavement outside the fire site at 109-112 Princes Street remained closed off because of continuing work on the building, and part of the neighbouring carriageway was repurposed as a protected pedestrian diversion.
Now officials have provided the council's transport and environment committee with an update saying the pavement will be largely returned to pedestrian use by the end of the year.
It says: "The closed section of Princes Street partially reopened to pedestrian, vehicle and tram traffic on 28 August 2026. Since then, there has been an occupation of the footway and road to allow for contractors to continue their work.
"That occupation is expected to be reduced by the end of December 2026, with the carriageway and most of the footway returned to its previous use. A small area of footway occupation will remain but is not expected to cause a significant obstruction to pedestrians using the area.”
The update also describes how the council made good use of the closure of Princes Street and the tram route between the city centre and Newhaven to carry out maintenance and other work and avoid later disruption.
"Whilst tram operations in the north of the city ceased for almost seven weeks, and buses were diverted away from Princes Street, the closures provided an opportunity to plan, coordinate and complete a number of maintenance projects on Princes Street and over the remaining closed section of the tram line, including works in Leith whilst tram movements were halted.
"During the event the Citywide Roads Team removed and reprogrammed many conflicting works on the network and brought forward maintenance projects to reduce future disruption.
"Works carried out during the closure included completion of four fibre network connections in Leith; repairing 15 manholes on Princes Street and in Leith; completing hard landscaping repairs; completing 15 footway repairs; replacing damaged ducting chamber covers on the tram line; filling joints in damaged setts at the Princes Street tram stop; applying sealant to tram infrastructure at eight locations; completing roadway surfacing repairs; completing nine concrete repairs to the trackform; and making stonework safe on the north façade of the National Gallery.
But the update acknowledges the closure showed that having even a short section of Princes Street out of action had serious consequences for the surrounding area and other parts of the city.
"For bus it exposed the limited capacity and resilience of alternative routes. Whilst it was possible to use George Street, Queen Street and other neighbouring streets, it was clear that the appropriateness, and effectiveness, of these streets in carrying bus and general traffic undermined the ability of public transport providers to meet target journey times.
“For tram it highlighted the vulnerability of operating without alternative secure and protected operational maintenance facilities and resources elsewhere on the network.
“Work is now underway with Edinburgh Tram, bus providers and the council to understand how a similar situation could be managed in future.”