Controversial plans to convert Edinburgh's iconic former Royal High School building into a high-end hotel have been unanimously rejected by councillors after planners warned that the development would cause 'permanent and irreversible damage'.

The City of Edinburgh Council’s development management sub-committee yesterday rejected developers Duddingston House Properties and Urbanist Group’s application to change the use of the building to a 127-bedroom hotel, demolish a number of existing buildings on the site, and to add two five-storey hotel bedroom wings to the Greek Revival building.

In a report to the committee, planning officers had recommended that the application be rejected.

Their report said that, while it is agreed that the development of the proposed 127 bedroom hotel could assist in addressing the demand for high quality hotel accommodation in Edinburgh, bring economic benefits to the city, and return a currently vacant building to viable economic use, the potential benefits of the development need to be considered within the context of environmental and heritage impacts, and the city’s existing hotel development pipeline.

Describing the former Royal High School as an "architectural masterpiece" and "one of the most significant buildings in Scotland", the report said that the proposed wings would have a significant adverse impact on the composition, integrity and special character of the listed building, which has been largely empty since the high school moved out in 1968.

"The quantum of development is excessive and the design does not achieve the world class architectural response required of this site," the report said. "The resulting harm caused by the proposed extensions significantly outweighs the economic benefit and benefit of bringing the building back into long-term use."

The report went on to say that the benefits to the city’s economy and to tourism through bringing an "at risk" building back into a sustainable long-term use are not outweighed by the "very significant harm" to the built environment and landscape of the city.

"The adverse impacts on the character and setting of listed buildings, the New Town and Old Town Conservation Areas, the designated landscape of Calton Hill and the outstanding universal value of the World Heritage Site would not be mitigated by the sophisticated designs of the proposed extensions," the report said.

Source: Planning Resource