Edinburgh planning bosses delay vote on controversial new student accommodation in Fountainbridge

Councillors have chosen to delay voting on controversial plans for new student accommodation to be built on site of the former St Joseph’s Nursing Home at Gilmore Place.

Edinburgh-based property group S1 Developments are hoping to add to Fountainbridge’s growing portfolio of student accommodation by building housing comprising 230 bed spaces across 29 separate flats, ranging in size from three to 12 beds.

The former care home’s listed Victorian-era main building and chapel will be retained, while numerous single and two storey brick outbuildings will be demolished and replaced by new three storey blocks with a central landscaped courtyard.

Music rooms, social space and study space will be located on the ground floor of the main building and chapel.

No car parking spaces will be made available to students living on site, however there will be space to store 230 bikes.

Developers of the 0.6 hectares site also plan to build formal green spaces including a central lawn, allotment gardens and an orchard to enhance biodiversity.

The new student accommodation was initially intended to be operated and occupied by Edinburgh University once complete.

The University cooperated with S1 Developments on plans for the site, but have since decided not to pursue it.

A vote on whether to approve or reject planning permission for the development took place today.

despite council planning officers officially recommending the development be approved, members of the council’s Development Management Sub-Committee opted to move for continuation, effectively delaying the vote.

There was cross-party agreement on the committee that further information about Fountainbridge’s demographic make-up would be required in order for a judgement to be made.

Committee members expressed concerns over the amount of student accommodation blocks being built in Fountainbridge and said that they want to be sure this latest proposal will not result in an over-saturation of transient residents in the area.

Councillors also stated that they would prefer the site be developed as residential housing.

Under the council’s own non-statutory student housing guidance, any new purpose-built student housing 0.25 hectares and above that does not share a boundary with a main university or college campus, should provide 50 per cent of the gross new build floor space to residential housing.

However, because they are “constrained in terms of delivering appropriate high-quality residential development alongside student accommodation”, S1 Developers have said that they do not plan to include any residential housing in the development.

More than 100 comments on the proposals have been submitted to the council’s online planning portal, 86 of which are objections, while on 23 are supportive.

Some local residents are worried that although no on-site parking spaces will be available to students, traffic in the area will nonetheless increase.

Meanwhile, most locals are concerned about the rising number of student accommodation blocks in the wider Fountainbridge and Craiglockhart area.

A new date for the second round of voting on the proposals has not yet been determined.

A spokesperson for S1 Developments said: “We look forward to the council feedback on local resident numbers so we can go forward again to committee.

“It was pleasing to receive positive feedback on the design of our scheme at committee and to have received listed building consent for the application.

“This proposal ensures a low impact effective new use for a listed building and its unique courtyard setting.”