Edinburgh’s Princes Street is set for a new luxury hotel with a rooftop sky bar after the council gave it final approval.
The City of Edinburgh Council granted permission for the massive new hotel, with a rooftop bar, restaurants, gym and meeting venue at the site of the old Debenhams.
The council granted permission for the new development on January 27 and now work will begin on the historic old buildings.
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It is believed the hotel will be four star and there will be 207 bedroom on offer to patrons.
The council stated on the planning application that they believe the hotel with its restaurants and rooftop bar will help keep footfall on Princes Street, with the St James development currently shifting Edinburgh’s retail core to the east of the city.
The Debenhams Princes Street store was made up within various buildings on Princes Street and Rose Street and they will all be redeveloped.
The old Conservative Club previously occupied one of the buildings on 112 Princes Street, dating from 1882 to 84, and the building was B-listed back in 1965. Its concrete structure will be demolished to make way for a new nine storey structure.
The former store also occupies most of the building at 109, 110 and 111 Princes Street, which includes the 1869 Palace Hotel by John Lessels.
And the final premises occupied by the former Debenhams store comprises the basement ground and first floors of the B-listed 144-150 Rose Street. This building was originally a three storey and attic tenement erected in 1780.
A report of handling was prepared on the planning application by Edinburgh Council and explains why they granted permission for the proposal.
It states: “The proposals comply with the adopted Local Development Plan policies and nonstatutory guidelines and have no adverse effect on the outstanding Universal Value of the World Heritage Site or the designed landscape.
"The development is sustainable has no detrimental impact on significant archaeological remains, residential amenity, road safety, infrastructure or biodiversity. There are no identified impacts on equalities or human rights and no material considerations that outweigh this conclusion.”
