Plans to transform a former Edinburgh school into a national music centre have been approved. The Old Royal High School will become home to auditoriums, rehearsal spaces and venues after scaled-back proposals were given the go-ahead by the city’s council. The building, once mooted as the site of the Scottish Parliament, was set to become the new facility for the St Mary’s independent music school until the project was pulled last year due to rising costs.
It will now play host to a “broad spectrum of styles and disciplines” across multiple floors following a £45m cash injection from the Dunard Foundation to take the plans forward. The plans propose little change to the neo-Grecian facade, but a total refurbishment of the interior. A café and public garden in the shadow of Calton Hill, overlooking the city’s Old Town, with a striking view of Arthur’s Seat will also form part of the design.
The Royal High School Preservation Trust (RHSPT) fought against a slew of proposed hotel and leisure developments in a series of disputes over the 19th Century site. They said the plans would “ensure a new life for an architectural masterpiece,” which was designed by Thomas Hamilton. They added: “The ambition is to transform a building designed for learning into a national beacon for music and a fitting home for Scotland’s National Centre for Music.
“The new National Centre for Music will become the main tenant of the former Royal High School, and manage it as a cult.