Both schemes will transform underused properties in the city and together add 417 new hotel rooms for visitors to Scotland’s capital.
Firstly, ISG has won a £20.5m contract to convert the former BHS store at 64 Princes Street into a 137-bed Premier Inn. The mixed-use development also includes the delivery of two new restaurants on Rose Street, and a 40,000 sq ft retail store on Princes Street, which involves linked buildings on Princes Street and Rose Street.
The contractor will demolish the existing Rose Street property and erect a new hybrid concrete and steel frame building, extending one additional storey higher on the site. A further floor will also be added to the Princes Street building, which will be physically linked to the Rose Street site via a new bridge. The transformation of the site is completed with replacement of the existing window sections on the Princes Street building’s façade. This work is scheduled for completion in spring 2020.
ISG’s second Edinburgh hotel job is a multi-million-pound redevelopment of Erskine House on Queen Street, to create a 280 ‘cabin’ hotel for Starwood Capital in partnership with Yotel. ISG will reconfigure space within the former office building, including the refurbishment of a large double-height glazed atrium to create a screening room and events space, with a bar fronting Queen Street. This hotel is scheduled to open in early 2019.
Andy McLinden, managing director for ISG’s Construction North and Scotland business, said: “Edinburgh’s global appeal as a top travel destination creates significant opportunity for forward thinking developers and hotel operators. Demand for quality hotel accommodation consistently outstrips supply throughout the year, and predictions that 9,000 new rooms will be needed by 2021 to simply keep pace with rising visitor numbers shows the scale of the challenge.
“The city’s response has been extremely positive and we’re pleased to be playing an active role in bringing a range of international brands into Edinburgh for the very first time. From highly complex new build projects on tightly constrained sites in the Old Town, through to the redevelopment and modification of existing buildings, each of these projects has a unique set of delivery challenges but the common principle that they must all enhance the built environment.”
ISG has worked on Several of Scotland's best-known hotels, including the Old Course Hotel and Hamilton Grand development in St Andrews, Trump Turnberry, the Gleneagles Hotel and Cameron House Hotel at Loch Lomond.
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