Proposed new 230-bed student accommodation development in Fountainbridge recommended for approval

Plans for new student accommodation to be built on site of the former St Joseph’s Nursing Home at Gilmore Place should be approved, Edinburgh City Council planning officials have recommended.

Design for the new student accommodation development

Edinburgh-based property group S1 Developments are hoping to add to Fountainbridge’s growing portfolio of student accommodation by building housing comprising 230 bed spaces across 29 separate flats, ranging in size from three to 12 beds.

The former care home’s listed Victorian-era main building and chapel will be retained, while numerous single and two storey brick outbuildings will be demolished and replaced by new three storey blocks with a central landscaped courtyard.

Music rooms, social space and study space will be located on the ground floor of the main building and chapel.

No car parking spaces will be made available to students living on site, however there will be space to store 230 bikes.

Developers of the 0.6 hectares site also plan to build formal green spaces including a central lawn, allotment gardens and an orchard to enhance biodiversity.

The new student accommodation was initially intended to be operated and occupied by Edinburgh University once complete.

The University cooperated with S1 Developments on plans for the site, but has since decided not to pursue it.

While planning officials have formally recommended approving plans for the acommodation, members of the council’s Development Management Sub-Committee will have the final say, with a vote scheduled for Wednesday this week.

Under the council’s own non-statutory student housing guidance, any new purpose-built student housing 0.25 hectares and above that does not share a boundary with a main university or college campus, should provide 50 per cent of the gross new build floor space to residential housing.

However, because they are “constrained in terms of delivering appropriate high-quality residential development alongside student accommodation”, S1 Developers do not plan to include any residential housing in the development.

More than 100 comments on the proposals have been submitted to the council’s online planning portal, 86 of which are objections.

Some local residents are worried that although no on-site parking spaces will be available to students, traffic in the area will nonetheless increase.

Other locals are concerned about the rising number of student accommodation blocks in the wider Fountainbridge and Craiglockhart area.

A spokesperson for S1 developments said: “We are clearly pleased to see this recommendation for approval.

“The proposal ensures an effective new use for a unique listed building and its grounds whilst causing the least possible harm.

“We looked at other uses for the location. The potential to deliver the site for another care home was not considered suitable for modern requirements, and upgrades to meet Care Commission standards were prohibitively expensive. Delivering housing was severely constrained by a number of factors including access constraints and the layout of the site.

“Redevelopment will restore the existing care-home building into high quality student accommodation, allowing the retention of the central chapel in its existing form.”