Its supporters call its dramatic spiralling bronze-coloured design an unravelling ribbon. Humourists in Edinburgh say the hotel reminds them of a walnut whip or a Mr Whippy cone. Its critics have simply branded it “the Turd”, and given it a hashtag to match.



The remarkable new five-star hotel destined for one of the most valuable retail sites in central Edinburgh, – the St James Centre at the east end of the Georgian New Town, has fuelled a debate over the city’s architectural heritage which has now attracted the attention of United Nations advisers.

With an exterior crafted from a winding spiral of brightly coloured steel, it has a twisting spire sprouting from a bulbous bronzed dome – wide enough for a 525-seat, three-storey penthouse restaurant, which will dominate Edinburgh’s skyline.

It received planning permission in controversial circumstances in August, in a split decision by councillors against the recommendation of the city’s planners, just as a new furore erupted over proposals for another luxury hotel.

That scheme would remodel one of Edinburgh’s most treasured neoclassical buildings, the Greek revival old Royal high school, built on Calton Hill in 1829, causing consternation among conservationists. The Royal, once seen as the ideal site for the Scottish parliament, helped Edinburgh win its world heritage site status in 1995.

Next week, representatives of Icomos-UK, who advise the UK on monuments and sites, will arrive in Edinburgh on a fact-finding mission. If Icomos team members dislike what they find, a long-threatened formal investigation into Edinburgh’s world heritage site status could ensue. Both controversies have left council leaders rattled.

The old Royal high school on Calton Hill. Photograph: Murdo Macleod for the Guardian

The proposal for the building, which has been semi-vacant for nearly 50 years since the school decamped to the outskirts of Edinburgh, involves two stepped ziggurat-style wings stacked up on either side of its classic central colonnade.

Even after it was reduced in scale to placate critics, the design by architect Gareth Hoskins has horrified conservationists and heritage campaigners, including the Edinburgh-based author Alexander McCall Smith.

Historic Scotland, the official architectural watchdog, has formally objected, arguing the development would cause “unacceptable harm” to the site and warning that it would refuse listed buildings consent, a legal requirement for the project to proceed.

Now the Hoskins design has competition from a rival proposal. After decades of failure to find a permanent use for the building, a wealthy trust called the Dunard Fund has offered more than £20m to convert it to house St Mary’s music school, one of the city’s oldest. Backed by the fund’s donor and former concert pianist Carol Colburn Grigor, the Royal High School Preservation Trust has been formed to push that proposal.

Council executives expect both schemes to come up at a planning committee hearing in December. Some observers believe senior councillors are delighted that the Hoskins plan has serious competition.

Willie Gray Muir, a specialist in historic property restoration who set up the trust, said the old school was unique. Sitting in the Arcadian setting of Calton Hill, with the Parthenon-styled columns of the national monument and the City Observatory behind on its summit, it has no other building to compete with for attention.

“Trying to force it to become a modern hotel is something the building simply can’t do,” he said. A music school at least “would run with the grain of it”.

Adam Wilkinson, director of Edinburgh World Heritage, the official guardian of its world heritage site, said a decision to build the Hoskins hotel would have huge repercussions. “If the old Royal high proposals go through then it will be seen that our systems for protecting the world heritage site are not functioning as they should,” he said. “Historic Scotland couldn’t state more clearly the impact on the world heritage site, and if it’s not working properly then there is absolutely a case for people from outside to investigate.”

The St James Centre site in Edinburgh. Photograph: Murdo Macleod for the Guardian

The St James Centre hotel is expected to go ahead as part of an £850m high-end shopping centre. Demolition of the existing 1970s office block and shopping centre will start next year.



But the bitter disputes over both sites has worried commentators. Richard Williams, professor of contemporary visual cultures at Edinburgh University, who has written critically about the city for international journals, was lambasted after suggesting on Radio 4’s Today programme that Edinburgh was “neurotic”.

Williams believes the city “desperately needs a better, more mature quality of conversation” about new buildings and architectural heritage. “The quality of public conversation has become very polarised, quite toxic and it’s very difficult to imagine what the city might look like in the future,” he said. “The most powerful actors in this conversation want to close it down; they want everything to be seen in their terms.”

Councillor Ian Perry, convenor of Edinburgh’s planning committee, said the council was keen to have that debate. It plans to start a formal public review of the city’s world heritage site management plan next year. The current policy “doesn’t treat Edinburgh’s world heritage centre as a museum”, Perry said. “It allows for development, so there’s no question that development isn’t allowed. Edinburgh is a dynamic place: the city is providing a huge amount of employment and investment.

“Whether we need to fundamentally change the way in which we manage world heritage centre will be discussed in the coming months as part of the review of the management plan.”