National music centre plans for historic school approved

The 19th Century building has been at the centre of a long-running dispute

Plans to transform a former Edinburgh school into a national music centre have been approved.

The Old Royal High School will become home to auditoriums, rehearsal spaces and venues after scaled-back proposals were given the go-ahead by the city’s council.

The building, once mooted as the site of the Scottish Parliament, was set to become the new facility for the St Mary’s independent music school until the project was pulled last year due to rising costs.

It will now play host to a “broad spectrum of styles and disciplines” across multiple floors following a £45m cash injection from the Dunard Foundation to take the plans forward.

The plans propose little change to the neo-Grecian facade, but a total refurbishment of the interior.

A café and public garden in the shadow of Calton Hill, overlooking the city’s Old Town, with a striking view of Arthur’s Seat will also form part of the design.

The Royal High School Preservation Trust (RHSPT) fought against a slew of proposed hotel and leisure developments in a series of disputes over the 19th Century site.

They said the plans would “ensure a new life for an architectural masterpiece,” which was designed by Thomas Hamilton.

The plans will transform the interior into auditorium and rehearsal spaces

They added: “The ambition is to transform a building designed for learning into a national beacon for music and a fitting home for Scotland’s National Centre for Music.

“The new National Centre for Music will become the main tenant of the former Royal High School, and manage it as a cultural institution, which as much as possible will be open to the public.

“The NCM will seek to build on and energise the performance, audience and learning opportunities the revitalised buildings will make available. It will create cultural and educational partnerships, manage concerts and outreach programmes and seek to celebrate and build on the rich tradition of music and performance throughout Scotland.”

Heritage groups

The A-listed building was constructed in 1829, but the school relocated in 1968.

It later became a city art centre.

After plans to house the new Scottish Parliament at the school were shelved following the 1997 referendum, the building was to become a Scottish National Photography Centre, but failed to gain the required financial backing.

It lay vacant until 2010 when Duddingston House Properties was granted a 125-year lease under the proviso of turning it into an “arts hotel,” featuring rooms and a public gallery.

Five years later, the plans changed again, with it to become a luxury hotel with two six-storey wings constructed on either side.

Those proposals were widely condemned by heritage groups ad were rejected by the council in 2015.

Some of the school's rooms would be reimagined into performance spaces

The developers took their case to the Scottish government, but went on to submit a revised plan.

The council later accepted a proposal from St Mary’s Music School, only for the developers to object, stating they had sole rights on the building until 2022.

Further hotel plans were rejected in 2017 and the Scottish government rejected another proposal in 2020.

It was later listed again on the open market.

In 2022, it played host to the Hidden Door Festival.

A City of Edinburgh Council spokesperson said: “The proposed development will preserve an iconic listed building in Edinburgh’s historic core in an enduring and sustainable use.

“The scheme is conservation-led and the proposed interventions are informed by thorough research of the building and its historical development.”

Reporting by local democracy journalist Donald Turvill.