November 6 2024

A bid to bulk up an Edinburgh office block dating from 2001 with an additional 85,000sq/ft of floor space has been dropped following a change of use application to proceed with a hotel.

Building on the prior approval from CDA Urban Innovations has filed updated proposals for a four-star Clayton Hotel housing 256 rooms.

The existing office building at 60 Morrison Street, vacant since 2021, will be extended upwards via a three-storey rooftop extension (one floor more than previously approved) and aligned with the roofscape of Atria One. Offset and split vertically into thirds at an off angle to minimise perceived bulk.

In their architectural statement, Urban Innovations wrote: "The rooftop extension, designed in a style similar to Capital Square and Atria One, is articulated as a single volume, establishing a stronger relationship with the modern buildings within its context. The tiered setbacks create a rhythm along Morrison Street, similar in mass to the C-listed tenement structures immediately to the east. The vertical solid-to-void fenestration provides a distinctive topping to establish the building as a new arrival."

Further refinements include opening up the ground floor with broader glazed bays and greater vertical emphasis on the proposed extension, which is marginally taller than previously once reduced hotel floor heights are considered.  

2 Comments

#1 Posted by Jesus Wept on 6 Nov 2024 at 12:35 PM

CDA 'Urban Innovations'?!
Architecturally, this is utterly rank.

When you say refinements...do you mean just changes UR?

#2 Posted by Sneck on 6 Nov 2024 at 14:17 PM

It could just be the quality of the drawings and visuals but frim every possible angle, the previously consented scheme looks far better than this.

A three storey rooftop "extension" is taking the mick. Hopefully, ECC see sense.

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