Funding to 'break deadlock' for Royal High School

There are few buildings as prominent as the Old Royal High School in Edinburgh.

Perched on the side of Calton Hill, this A-listed neoclassical building is one of a cluster which earned Edinburgh the nickname of the Athens of the North.

There are also few buildings which have inspired so many plans which have failed to get beyond the drawing board.

Now the Royal High School Preservation Trust (RHSPT) believes they have the project which can break the decades-long deadlock.

Its plan for a National Centre for Music has the backing of the National Lottery Heritage Fund, which has awarded an initial development grant of £437,046 and ringfenced a further £4,562,147.

Part of the appeal, according to the fund's director for Scotland, is the amount of public access, and the fact it will include the biggest public garden to be created in the capital in 200 years.

"It's not just the restoration of this building," says Caroline Clark. "It's about opening it up in all sorts of new ways.

"I think the public, particularly the Edinburgh public who have seen this building for years, will be surprised by how many spaces there are."

The main assembly hall – once touted as a home for the Scottish Parliament – is currently undergoing investigative work but the hope is that it, along with the two octagonal rooms on either side, will be transformed into performance spaces.

"It's such a beautiful symmetrical design," says the new centre's director Jenny Jameson.

"It's perfect for music making and performance, but we'll also have office space where organisations can come and live every day."

Rather than enter uphill, through the daunting façade, visitors will enter from the pavement on Regent Road.

It's hoped more than 290,000 visitors a year will use the new centre, or walk in its gardens and enjoy the panoramic view.

Each of the past projects has argued that it is the ideal occupant.

The centre for photography would have been just a few hundred yards from where pioneering photographers David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson set up their studio.

Duddingston House Property thought its luxury hotel would revive the building and invigorate the neighbourhood, but plans to include two six-storey extensions were a step too far for heritage campaigners and local residents.

Carol Nimmo was chair of the local residents' group in 2015 and campaigned against the hotel plans.

Edinburgh City Council rejected the proposal, a decision later endorsed by a Scottish government inquiry.

"It was a close run thing," says Carol, who is now RHSPT chairwoman.

"When we'd finished campaigning, we realised we could bring the original Thomas Hamilton building back in its entirety with the added bonus of public gardens.

"People know about this building but it's almost been hidden in plain sight so the fact that we've got the project going and this award from the National Lottery Heritage Fund is a real milestone."

The plan which got closest to competition was St Mary's Music School - it had been due to move to the site in 2022 when the hotel developers' land rights lapsed.

But delays and rising construction costs meant it had to pull out in 2023.

The Royal High School Preservation Trust is confident of completing the project by the summer of 2027 with a £69m budget, although they have a funding gap of £8m to bridge.

The largest portion of funding comes from the Dunard Fund, which is also supporting a new concert hall in St Andrews Square.

"This is an important building, built to look down over the old town, a public school for the whole of Edinburgh," says Carol.

"So here we are, opening it up to the public for the first time in decades."