Marginal Edinburgh schemes cut back

6 Aug 2008

Four major office developments in Edinburgh are on hold as developers struggle to obtain funding from lenders.

Duddingston House Properties have put on hold for up to 3 years plans to replace an eyesore sixties office block at Torphichen Street by Bennetts Associates.  The environmentally sensitive build would have incorporated solar powered heating and natural ventilation

Meanwhile planned refurbishment work on nearby properties at Osborne House dubbed “the Modernist” by Broadway Malyan and Rosebery House has stalled with short term leases being taken out on the properties, despite planning permission having been secured.  

This follows news that plans for new offices at Fountainbridge by Allan Murray Architects on the site of the former Scottish & Newcastle Brewery have been halted, again despite having won planning permission.

Consultants in the field are warning a lack of liquidity from the banks and rising material costs have combined to lower developers yields. Revised arithmetic on the viability of such schemes is likely to see only the best schemes on the best sites make the cut.

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