A plush Edinburgh city centre is set for a huge makeover, adding nearly 50 new rooms and increasing the size of the first floor reception area.
The four-star Carlton Highland Hotel, on North Bridge, could see several other changes made including the removal of their swimming pool and having the bar area relocated if the plans are granted by the City of Edinburgh Council.
The plans also include a change of use application for the adjacent Whisky and Wine store which would become part of the hotel, acting as a space for their new bar and lounge.
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The basement level the empty unit between 11-15 North Bridge would also be used if the plans are granted, which was formerly used as a nightclub.
The hotel currently has 211 rooms, with another 31 pending. The new proposals would see an additional 46 bedrooms on the first floor. In a design statement, the applicant states that although the hotel has a high occupancy, the requirement for function areas has declined, leading to new proposals.
A design statement on behalf of the applicant states: "Changing market requirements for conferencing, meeting and function space have determined that combined with the fact that the Carlton hotel also has a variety of venue space elsewhere in the hotel.
"The Carlton has a surplus of event space available on the 1st floor of the hotel that is under used and not economically sustainable and would be better repurposed to additional hotel bedrooms to meet the ongoing city wide demand for high quality hotel accommodation in the city centre.
"Previous feasibility studies have indicated that working with the existing footprint and window patterns, the first floor could offer 45/46 new high quality bedrooms. Current proposals omitted central feature stair and new two-hour fill in floor to allow for new bedrooms to be formed. 46 new bedrooms with associated en-suites, 2no DDA included have been formed, protected lobbies added to existing Fire escapes, BOH and other facilities have been included in the proposals as per client’s requirements."
It is also understood that the indoor swimming pool, which the hotel says is "not in use" will be removed as part of the plans.
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