A BIRD'S-EYE view over the centre of the capital reveals a gaping hole in its historic heart.
Situated roughly halfway between Waverley Station and the Scottish Parliament, it's hard to miss the massive gap site from a vantage point like Calton Hill.
Yet it's a part of Edinburgh's Old Town – and the World Heritage Site – that is completely
bypassed by many who live and work nearby.
That may be about to change under a £300 million proposal to create a thriving new commercial and cultural quarter.
Edinburgh City Council officials have now recommended that politicians back one of the capital's most controversial developments in living memory – in the face of widespread opposition and a high-profile protest campaign.
More than 300 objections have been lodged against proposals from developer Mountgrange, which have been more than three years in the planning stages.
The scheme has divided architectural and heritage experts, while triggering concerns about the impact the crucial decision may have on the city's World Heritage Site status – and what kind of message a rejection may send to other major developers.
Among the key elements of the development earmarked for land on and around a 3.5-acre gap site off the Royal Mile are a five-star hotel and conference centre, a series of office and apartment blocks, a new public square, and a string of cafes, bars and restaurants.
The main development site will be linked to Waverley Station by a new "culture quarter" strip boasting live music venues, artists' studios and gallery spaces.
The fate of the scheme, which is expected to deliver some 1, 700 new jobs, rests on a meeting of the capital's planning committee on 6 February.
Backers claim the development will transform a "wasteland" in the heart of the Old Town, provide a massive boost to the city's status as a tourism destination and help create the "missing link" between the railway station and the parliament at Holyrood.
The masterplanner for the Caltongate scheme has been Allan Murray, the award-winning architect.
He said: "We're trying to completely change the dynamic of this part of the city with new streets, new squares, new homes, and new places for people to relax.
"No-one goes to this area at the moment, it's long been neglected. Change is the sign of a living city. Edinburgh has to be a living city for it to thrive in the future." Manish Chande, Mountgrange's chief executive, described his firm's proposals as "a once-in-a-generation opportunity to significantly improve the fabric and feature of Edinburgh Old Town".
But opponents claim the project has been rushed through, with little thought given to the "monolithic" design of new buildings, not enough justification given for the removal of listed buildings, and claims that the developers have tried to confuse protesters by submitting multiple planning applications.
Critics have also questioned the need to create more office space and another major new hotel in the city.
Heavyweight objectors who have lined up against the scheme include the Edinburgh World Heritage Trust, the Cockburn Association and the Architectural Heritage Society of Scotland (AHSS).
In its submission to the planning committee, the trust has objected to the idea of the hotel and conference centre taking the place of two existing listed buildings. The AHSS also has told the council: "The hotel and conference centre buildings can be said to be little more than 'decorated sheds', inappropriate for the heart of the Old Town and World Heritage Site."
Although Donald Anderson, the former city council leader, had been a vocal supporter of the scheme, many in the capital are doubtful it has the full backing of the Liberal Democrat-SNP coalition running the local authority.
Within weeks of her elevation to council leader after May's election, Jenny Dawe criticised the design of key buildings in the scheme, branding them "hideous" and "grotesque".
That view is backed by James Simpson, one of Scotland's leading conservation architects, who said the plans for the scheme "ignored" the traditional look and feel of the Canongate and will dwarf other buildings in the area.
"Everything about Caltongate is wrong," he said. "The suggestion that this particular development, and others like it, are essential for the wellbeing of the city is, frankly, bizarre."
'DESTRUCTIVE PROPOSAL'
BOB CAIRNS"CALTONGATE". The name says it all really, a concocted piece of PR puffery, with no roots in Edinburgh's history.
We all know the site of the old New Street Garage has to be developed. But not at the cost of damaging the most historic street in Edinburgh, or destroying some of the most beautiful views of the city skyline.
The proposals will destroy flats built by the wonderfully-named Ebenezer McRae, City Architect in the 1930s and the designer of schools and fine stone-fronted flats in the Southside and elsewhere.
The latest desperate efforts of the developer claim to retain the front wall of the upper two floors of these buildings. But the flats behind will be demolished and replaced by "deluxe bedrooms". So homes for ordinary people will disappear to be replaced by a piece of Disneyland stage-set and hotel rooms for the super-rich.
We once were proud that in Edinburgh, unlike many other cities, there was a good social mix in the historic city centre. Planning policies still encourage that mixed community, but this development would destroy it.
The relationship between Old and New Town was crucial in obtaining World Heritage Site status for Edinburgh. The intrusion of parts of this development into the Waverley Valley will seriously damage that relationship.
The answer is to reject the current application and to devote resources to drawing up a proper masterplan for the Waverley Valley.
• Bob Cairns is a former planning convener with Edinburgh City Council
'JUST WHAT CITY NEEDS'
RON HEWITTWHEN we first saw the plans for Caltongate it was clear it is just the kind of development which Edinburgh needs.
It takes a difficult and disparate site and transforms key areas of under-provision in the city as its target: high-class hotel bedspace, central accommodation including affordable housing, start-up business units and mainstream offices, all in short supply in the inner city.
Mountgrange, the developer, added in community space, arts performance areas and street cafés, local shops and connectivity. After dozens of meetings in public consultation the plan evolved so that community aspirations were a key part embedded in the offering, not a palliative add-on.
Fitting with the grain of the existing heritage, breakthroughs were offered to give pedestrian access from the east end of Princes Street through to the parliament and back up to Market Street. No longer will the nether regions of Waverley and the neighbourhood of our magnificent new council offices be a wasteland. A long-neglected part of our city centre will have new life breathed into it.
I cannot understand why any inspirational plans for our city, such as this, could be met with the feeling that somehow the developer is the enemy. No-one in their right mind supposes that just because they want to invest £300 million in our city the developer will have it all their own way.
If we want a developing city that lives with the times, whilst caring for its citizens and workers and respecting its historical legacy, then we need to welcome organisations with the willingness and resources to invest in it.
• Ron Hewitt is chief executive of Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce
HISTORY IN THE MAKINGCALTONGATE is believed to be the biggest single development in the history of Edinburgh's Old Town.
The site was the capital's gasworks in the mid-19th century and it became a bus depot in the 1930s.
The 3.5-acre site was put up for sale by the Scottish Transport Group in 1990. But firm proposals to redevelop the site did not emerge until 1999 when a consortium of Edinburgh businessmen unveiled plans for offices, shops, flats and an underground car park. Within months they had sold the site on to a joint venture company headed by the London developer the Cuckfield Group and a Dutch firm, Sofam.
It was not until March 2002 that its £100 million scheme – for offices, a new arts centre, 55 homes, and a health and fitness centre – secured planning permission. But in 2003 it emerged that the scheme was on hold amid concerns it was not financially viable.
The site changed hands again early in 2005 and it emerged that the new developer, Mountgrange, was pursuing much bigger plans than before. They involved developing land neighbouring the bus depot site, including two listed buildingson New Street to make way for a new five-star hotel and conference centre, while old garages on Market Street were to be transformed into a cultural quarter.
