October 26 2023

Edinburgh's Canonmills district is set for further residential expansion with the submission of plans to redevelop a light industrial unit at 26 Dunedin Street into student housing.

Complementing recent proposals to replace Beaverhall House and erect further student accommodation across the street, the scheme supplants an initial build-to-rent proposal with 73 student rooms.

Again led by O'DonnellBrown and HUB the latest plans call for more urban massing to frame the street with ground floor amenities, with gridded accommodation arranged around a central core. A landscaped amenity space is proposed on a set-back upper floor with the front door recessed behind a landscaped frontage to sit better within the local context.

Specifying a mix of 'earthy' brick and metal cladding to reference the previously industrial character of Canonmills the project includes a landscape plan developed by MRG Studio that includes planting along Dunedin Street and Beaverhall, leading to a hard landscaped 'makers yard' to the east.

In a planning statement, the architects wrote: "The changing local context provides an opportunity to create and reinforce meaningful connections and new focal points. Alongside the proposed Beaverhall House scheme to the east, 26 Dunedin Street has the opportunity to contribute to the changing character of the Beaverhall / Dunedin Street junction, establishing a new key node in the city."

Studio apartments range from standard 22.3sq/m to larger accessible rooms of 27.2sq/m.   

4 Comments

#1 Posted by Daniel on 26 Oct 2023 at 12:58 PM

The council really needs to put a design code in place this this entire district - the residential redevelopment clearly is going to go until they run out of sites, and the outcomes are so mixed. Clear, measurable expectations, and you'll get better outcomes.

#2 Posted by Brown like... on 26 Oct 2023 at 14:31 PM

That is really brown isn't it?
The dummy windows on the gable in the second image are poor too.
Either stick to a grid or do something else- don't just give up.
Have O'Donnell Brown ever done an interesting project?

#3 Posted by Fudge on 26 Oct 2023 at 15:20 PM

Disagree with the above, this seems like a well proportioned proposal, especially for PBSA. Ever bothered to look at Henley Halebrown's Chadwick Hall?

#4 Posted by The Heart of Saturday Night on 27 Oct 2023 at 12:28 PM

Chadwick Hall has a good deal more refinement than this. The above isn't awful, but it's a bit heavy handed.

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