Edinburgh council plans to transform rundown retail parade into 125 flats with retail and leisure units

The City of Edinburgh Council has revealed details of its plans for the removal of existing partly vacant retail parade at 72-96 Niddrie Mains Road in Craigmillar and build 125 residential units above ground floor retail, business and leisure units.

The 93.4 acre site includes an existing Tesco supermarket as well as retail parades on either side and parking spaces behind.

An artist's impression of the proposed new flats and retail units at the site of the row of shops on Niddrie Mains Road. | City of Edinburgh Council

On the planning consultation website for these plans, the council said: “We are planning to redevelop a site within the local centre on the south side of Niddrie Mains Road, which will create a mixed-use development with new affordable homes above commercial premises creating varied and vibrant edge to Niddrie Mains Road.

“It will link into the recently developed homes to the south and could deliver up to 125 new net zero carbon homes with a new commercial frontage on to Niddrie Mains Road. This will add to the regeneration of the area to date with over 1250 new homes alongside the new local office, schools, shops and parks delivered so far.”

The current row of shops on Niddrie Mains Road. | Google Maps

The first round of public consultation on the plans ends on Friday, November 29, with further consultation expected in the New Year. Following this a planning application will be submitted. The local authority hopes to be on site by 2028.

The layouts in the planning documents show a mix of commercial units and accessible flats at ground floor level with a range of one, two and three bedroom homes above.

The Craigmillar Urban Design Framework was published in 2005. Since then the ongoing transformation of the Craigmillar and Niddrie area has resulted in over 1250 new homes, plus local facilities including Craigmillar Library & Neighbourhood Centre, and Castlebrae Community Campus School.

This project seeks to “provide a varied and vibrant ground floor frontage alongside net zero ready affordable housing”.

Another artist's impression photo of the plans for the row of shops in Craigmillar. | City of Edinburgh Council

This proposal of application notice was lodged on November 4. And the consultation for the plans was approved by the local authority’s planning department on November 22.

The next public consultation event is due to take place the week beginning January 20 at Craigmillar Library, with exact date still to be confirmed. The council hopes to submit this planning application in February/ March.