New images have been released which show the former Royal High School on Calton Hill in Edinburgh would look as a "community concert hall".

The Royal High School Preservation Trust said it has worked in close collaboration with Richard Murphy Architects and St Mary’s Music School to design expanded performance and rehearsal space that will enable the school to "broaden and extend the outreach activities it currently offers to the wider community".

The trust, which hopes to move St Mary’s Music School into the historic Thomas Hamilton building on Calton Hill with a £25 million proposal, submitted a detailed planning application to the City of Edinburgh Council late last week, ahead of a hearing on a separate plan this Thursday.

The new images come as the developers behind the £75 million plan to turn the former Royal High School into a hotel list of 100 backers including Edinburgh Airport chief executive Gordon Dewar and Marshall Dallas, of Edinburgh International Conference Centre.

Plans for music school

The trust's visualisations show how the incorporation of new school buildings to the east and north protect the integrity and setting of the Hamilton masterpiece, while providing capacity for the school to increase in size in the coming years, from 83 to 120 pupils.

It said they also highlight plans to complement the creation of three new public performance spaces, including a 300-seat concert hall in the former debating chamber, with a new publicly-accessible garden on the western and northern flanks of the site.

William Gray Muir, Chairman of The Royal High School Preservation Trust, said: "The Trust’s plans have remained tightly focused on both preserving this exceptional building while bringing forward progressive, innovative designs to give it a modern and sustainable use, both for pupils studying at St Mary’s and for members of the public wanting to enjoy its new concert space and public gardens.”

Mr Dewar, also board member of VisitScotland, said earlier: "We are constantly competing with many other European airports to attract investment into Edinburgh as both a market and a destination.

"A world-class hotel will attract a new level of interest and economic activity that will benefit everyone with a stake in the visitor economy.”