Proper planning will see Edinburgh sites evolve

Artist's impression of the planned St James Quarter redevelopment

The east end of Edinburgh has been long overdue for a major revamp so the recent announcement that the £850 million St James Quarter project has at last been given the go-head is good news on a number of fronts.

Since the Scottish Government moved to Victoria Quay 18 years ago, their former offices behind the St James Centre have languished as they await demolition to make way for redevelopment. But while the St James Quarter is the largest project, in both scale and investment, there are other developments under way or in the pipeline that together will boost confidence and investment in Edinburgh’s property sector as well as completely transform the city centre.

Artisan’s £150m plan in Market Street/New Street (formerly Caltongate) for leisure, retail and offices is now going ahead while in the west of the city, the retail, hotel and office development under way at Haymarket will improve west end links to the new Haymarket station and improve access to Shandwick Place.