John McLellan: Edinburgh's inspiring '˜Narnia of wonders' is in danger

As they say, you read it here first. Last month this column speculated that redevelopment of St Margaret's House on London Road, home to the Edinburgh Palette arts complex, was on the cards and sure enough this week it was sold to a property regeneration company.
St Margaret's House at Meadowbank is home to a wonderland of inspirational artistsSt Margaret's House at Meadowbank is home to a wonderland of inspirational artists
St Margaret's House at Meadowbank is home to a wonderland of inspirational artists

Only in December did the current owner Caledonian Trust say it was weighing up its options, but this week it stunned its tenants by announcing an ambitious Scottish developer, the Drum Property Group, had bought the block for a whopping £15m, three times its previously estimated value.

In its sale announcement, Caledonian revealed the building generated rental income of £158,717 last year, representing an operating profit of £138,919, so it’s hardly surprising it accepted an offer one hundred times the building’s annual net earnings. And if the new owner can make more money from the site then Caledonian could rake in even more.

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The terms of the deal are that Drum will only take possession when the building is empty, so it is in Caledonian’s interests to evict the Edinburgh Palette and the many organisations it hosts. But even if they were to stay, it would be virtually impossible for Edinburgh Palette to operate on anything like the same basis as now because just to break even over the next 50 years would need more than double the rent.

Most, if not all, of the businesses leasing small studios and workshops through the Palette would be crippled.

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Drum MD Graham Bone made his intentions clear this week saying: “Over the coming year … there is the potential to create an exciting mix of affordable housing, student residences, and facilities for the benefit of the local community.”

What those facilities might be is unclear, but it’s hard to see them matching what the Palette already delivers.

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There is little chance redevelopment will fall foul of the planning process, given permission already exists in principle for housing. The building itself is undoubtedly an eyesore, but it’s the risk to what goes on inside that’s important.

After last month’s article, I toured the building with the Edinburgh Palette’s energetic and charismatic chief executive Dale Gibson, the former boss of the Royal Terrace Hotel, who has built up what is an astonishing hub of creativity in an office block headed for demolition.

It has benefited from competitive rents in a building not fit for mainstream business and, charitable rates relief apart, it has thrived without the need for direct public subsidy. By begging, borrowing and rescuing materials, calling in a few favours here and cutting the odd corner there, bespoke units have been created at minimal cost for the highly individual enterprises.

So behind every nondescript office door along grey, bureaucratic corridors is a Narnia of wonders – Will Phoenix the bookbinder who makes fantasy props in embossed leather for the likes of Dr Who, Lubi Lykan’s cutting-edge costume design using Harris Tweed, Jane North’s award-winning jewellery, a potter with a broken arm labouring away with beautiful ceramics, painters, sculptors, you name it. Edinburgh Judo legend George Kerr even has his base here, complete with Shinto gateway.

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The extraordinary Upward Mobility is truly inspiring, giving people with the widest range of disabilities the chance to meet and explore their creativity in ways not possible elsewhere. With new computer technology linked to sensors detecting the minutest movements, people who can move no more than an eyebrow can make art.

All of this is now at risk and The Palette estimates they have 18 months to secure their future, and by coincidence First Minister Nicola Sturgeon is due to visit Upward Mobility in the near future. Drum Property Group’s website highlights grand plans for gap sites along the Clyde in central Glasgow and although St Margaret’s House is barely a quarter the size, it’s going to be ten times the trouble.

Snobbery claim over Currie-Wester Hailes schools merger doesn’t stand up

Freed from the constraint of elected representation, the former SNP leader Steve Cardownie threw caution to the winds this week by claiming some of those opposed to the merger of Currie High School with the Wester Hailes Education Centre may be motivated by snobbery.

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Does that include Gordon MacDonald, the SNP’s Pentlands MSP who has also voiced his strong opposition to the plan?

There are many things for which the ex-Lothian Buses accountant could stand accused, such as eating BBC executives for fun, but I doubt snobbery is one of them.

The fact is that WHEC parents are also opposed to the merger, and the truth is that people simply don’t like strong symbols of their community and their identity being forcibly taken from them.

Meadowbank residents organise over access complaints

The Urban Eden estate behind the Meadowbank retail park is, according to the sales blurb from developer Places for People, “about being part of the city and also being separate from it”.

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Judging by complaints from locals about pedestrian access and the closure of footpaths, there has been less of the former and more of the latter and a new residents’ association has just been formed.

Meanwhile on the other side of London Road, a long-running wrangle which has closed the Wolseley Steps, which connect Willowbrae to the main street, has been brought an end with the issuing of a statutory repairs notice. Work is due to start in April.

Gregor Townsend could learn from ‘Mini Murrayfield’ tactical switch

In a sudden strategic U-turn which Scotland rugby coach Gregor Townsend will be wishing he had copied against Wales, the SRU is set to build a 7000-seater stadium on the Murrayfield back pitches after years of shying away from the most obvious way to end Edinburgh Rugby’s nomadic existence.

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With proposals for a hotel at the stadium being prepared it makes sense and always has done, so it’s a pity George Watson’s College, where considerable inconvenience has been tolerated, was led to believe Myreside could become a permanent home.