Caltongate
Caltongate, now known as New Waverley Square, is the largest city centre redevelopment project in Edinburgh since the 18th century. First proposed in 2005, it took 9 years to be approved by Edinburgh Council, after delays due to the 2008 financial crisis. The name Caltongate combines Canongate and Calton Hill, as the area lies on Canongate, and faces directly onto Calton Hill. Caltongate lies within the Old Town, Edinburgh, which was recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1994. Construction began in 2014 and is yet to be completed.
History
Context
This section refers to the post-18th-century context relevant to the Caltongate development. If looking for a more comprehensive review of the history of this region,In 1817, the site of the Caltongate development on New Street was initially built up as the New Street Gasworks along with the rise of coal gas alongside the industrial revolution. Due to a subsequent rise in coal pollution as well as the absence of a Scottish Monarchy and the dissolution of the Parliament of Scotland after the Acts of Union 1707, the status of Canongate was reduced and it became a primarily working-class neighbourhood. This is reflected by the high level of investment in social housing in Canongate in the first half of the 20th century.
By 1928 the New Street Gasworks had been demolished, and this area was turned into a Bus Depot. By 1996, the bus depot was no longer in use and was the host of The Bongo Club run by the arts charity Out of the Blue. In December 2003, full planning permission was granted to redevelop the former New Street Bus Depot. In September 2006, demolition of the bus depot began.
The construction of the modern Scottish Parliament Building down the road in Holyrood Palace and the neighbouring £50 million City of Edinburgh Council headquarters set a precedent for modern development in the Canongate area. A questionnaire directed to members of the public in 2006 identified that 89% of people agreed that the area around the Caltongate site needed generation.
Development timeline
The New Street Bus Depot was purchased by Mountgrange Capital PLC for £20m in 2004, and in November 2005 the Council disposed of the Canongate Venture building, the Council Depot building and the Jeffrey Street arches to Mountgrange, which then proposed "Caltongate". Allan Murray Architects won the contract to design the development. There was a series of pre-planning activities which took place across the years 2004-2005 that consulted "key stakeholders, "advisors" and "various interest groups". A masterplan was also written to "maximise the opportunity for the area" This led to the proposed inclusion of a more detailed planning process and other physical elements to Caltongate such as affordable housing. This would supposedly be a £300 million scheme.Details of the proposal were first publicised in the Edinburgh Evening News on 3 October 2005, and promised to link the Council Headquarters, Scottish Parliament, Holyrood North and the Moray House Campus. It envisioned an "increased population", "a major new public square" and a regeneration of Canongate. There was a "four-year battle with heritage groups" until it secured planning on the 6th February 2008. However, due to the 2008 financial crisis, Mountgrange went into administration after a withdrawal of support from the Bank of Scotland and a slump in the property market, leading to a halt in the construction of Caltongate.
The project was taken over by Artisan Real Estate Investors in 2009, and went through a series of adaptations and was only narrowly on the 29th January 2014 on an 8:6 split. The proposal diverted from its original form, offering 40% less housing and the intended larger commercial buildings had been 'broken up into more intimate individual units, improving the overall look and feel of the area'. By 2014 it had been reduced from a £300 million to a £150 million plan. At this point, the project was rebranded from 'Caltongate' to 'New Waverley'.
The construction of 'New Waverley' began in late 2014. The Waverley arches under Jeffrey Street started to host businesses in early 2016. Arches Artisan Real Estate Investors were legally entitled to demolish the listed buildings Sailors' Ark and Canongate Venture, but they were instead into hotels, with the former opened by Adagio city in 2016 and the latter by BrewDog in 2021. This is indicative of the efforts of the heritage campaigners. The UK Government Hub 'Queen Elizabeth House' opened in Spring 2020. The Queensberry Apartment complex was completed in 2021 and can be found on the east side of the Caltongate development, hosting 66 new homes, mews houses and maisonettes, along with first-class retail and commercial space.
As of December 2023, there is still an empty building site where there was supposed to be a residential building. Rather than matching the original plans of 87 residential units, there have been plans set forward by Vita Group to build new purpose-built student accommodation made up of shared flats for 65 individuals as well as 224 studio bedrooms. Additionally, there have been 3 affordable housing units allocated as well as 277 sqm of ground floor space for a commercial or community unit.
Controversy
The development proposal was met with backlash by some members of the community. Since the 1980s, the threat of Thatcher's Housing Act 1980 as well as other neighbouring modern developments such as the City of Edinburgh Council headquarters in 2006 has meant that the historically working-class community is sceptical of modern development.Pre-2008 economic crisis
Anti-Canongate Organisations
As an initial reaction to the proposal in 2005, there were organisations, both newly established and pre-existing, that campaigned as well as made statements or reports against the proposal. Expressed concerns often encompassed the following:- Aesthetic concerns
- Class-based concerns
- Heritage concerns
Save Our Old Town Campaign (SOOT)
The Cockburn Association
, an independent charity dedicated to architectural conservation issued a statement addressing their primary concerns. Notably, they criticised:- The choice of materials, predominantly horizontal roofscapes, demolition of listed buildings, lack of Waverly Valley form and excessively high development.
- The demolition of the Canongate Venture.
- The loss of a panoramic view.
- The lack of attempt to balance the requirements of investors with local and heritage concerns.
UNESCO mission 2008
Andrew Holmes, the director of development for the city of Edinburgh Council from the years 2000–2008, criticised UNESCO for its communication only within its "own coterie" via "a self-appointed elite".
Historic Scotland
Despite expressing earlier concerns over the scheme, Historic Scotland was supportive of the scheme by 2008, under the condition that they would work closely with the developers to ensure that the proposals were sensitive to the historic environment and the World Heritage property.Response to controversy
One universal criticism expressed by all organisations was their lack of communication with the local community. In response to this, the council led programmes of community engagement including an invitation-only Planning Stakeholders Workshop in March 2006, preceding an open-door Community Planning Day in April 2006. The Caltongate Liaison Group was also organised by Mountgrange to act as a forum for residents to share their concerns. Mountgrange met with Historic Scotland, Edinburgh World Heritage, Cockburn Association, Old Town Association and Architecture and Design Scotland to discuss the heritage implications of the Caltongate proposals.was also handed out in DVD form to residents and organisations in 2007 to convince them of the benefits of the Caltongate development.