The new glazing makes a phenomenal improvement on the spaces. Improvements to the pedestrian entrances area also very successful and I would love these become a catalyst for redesigning the roof terrace of Princes Mall.

I've long thought Waverley Market/Princes Mall was an astonishing missed opportunity to give the station a proper presence on Edinburgh's main thoroughfare. The recent upgrade to the Waverley Steps is a belated step in the right direction, but I can't help but feel much more meaningful improvements could have been made if the shopping centre (which I believe is majority Council-owned) had been brought into the scheme. The half-hearted doorways connecting into the malls feel like a bit of an afterthought and frankly the centre adds very little to the city either shopping-wise or urbanistically. Surely a decent front door to the city's main station would be more than worth the loss of a third-rate sunken bunker full of low-end chain stores.

All a big improvement no doubt, but those wood effect panels do look for all the world like leftovers from some Ikea flat pack assembly mishap.

The quality of the Trespa looking panels is only matched by the ridiculous decision to choose a sandy coloured floor tile. It took, I reckon, all of 5 minutes for this new surface that covers almost all of the lower concourse to look dated, muddy, cheap and naff. Was the designer that much a slave to the the planners / UNESCO / Cockburn Association that they had no feasible alternative? Also, what is happening in the internal space which used to be served by Costa?

The natural light spilling through the fine filigree of the Victorian structure looks fantastic, though they would have to be pretty special to get that wrong.