A STRIKING new glass and steel footbridge is to be built linking Edinburgh’s St James shopping centre with Calton Hill.
The £2 million link will replace the present much maligned 1970s pedestrian bridge, which has been dubbed "the bridge to nowhere".
The new bridge is the latest element in a massive regeneration of Edinburgh’s east end which includes the Harvey Ni
chols development, a £25 million upgrade of the John Lewis store and the Holyrood parliament.
Constructed from glass and a distinctive interlocking helical steel frame, the bridge will offer spectacular views of Edinburgh and Calton Hill.
A planning application was being submitted to Edinburgh City Council today by Pillar Properties and LaSalle Investment Management. If approved the bridge could be completed by the end of the year.
The link is seen as a vital part of the new Greenside Place development which Pillar Properties is also involved in. The design, from Broadway Malyan Architects and Buro Happold Engineers, includes a terminal building linking with the Omni leisure and Calton Square office development.
Those behind the Omni leisure scheme hope the bridge will become a vital artery to draw shoppers from Princes Street and the St James Centre to the leisure development, which will feature a 12-screen Warner Village multiplex, Holmes Place Health Club, a 66-bedroom Eaton Town House hotel and associated restaurants and bars.
Andrew McParland, director of Parlison Properties, the joint developer of Calton Square/ Omni said: "At long last we have been able to produce a bridge/terminal combination which can function as a proper link across Leith Street. The sooner the better as far as we are concerned."
Steve Spray, a director of LaSalle Investment Management, said: "We believe the link between Harvey Nichols at The Walk, John Lewis at The St James Centre and Pillar’s exciting office and leisure development across the busy Leith Street is essential.
"The existing bridge doesn’t achieve this and is an eyesore. The new bridge which will cost nearly £2 million represents a major improvement to the area."
The current bridge was built to take civil servants from Old St Andrew’s House, behind the St James Centre, to New St Andrew’s House at Waterloo Place.
But with Old St Andrew’s House now empty - the civil servants have decamped to Victoria Quay, Leith - the bridge is used by few people, aside from those walking to Greenside Place car park.
Martin Hulse, director of the Cockburn Association, welcomed the demolition of the 1970s structure. "The current bridge is one of the biggest architectural eyesores in the city," he said.
Terry Levinthal, technical director of the Scottish Civic Trust, likened the present bridge to a "covered steel ladder dropped by a tradesman after they had completed the St James Centre".
"If you are going to replace then it should be replaced like this, with something modern and contemporary."
But Desmond Hodges, a former director of the Edinburgh New Town Conservation Committee, was disappointed the new bridge had not been situated further down Leith Street. "The present bridge slices through the view as you stand at Register House and look down. This new bridge should be further down and I am surprised they have not done that."
