St James Quarter Development Brief

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St James Quarter Development Brief City of Edinburgh Council St James Quarter Development Brief CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION ..............................................................................................................................3 2. PLANNING POLICY CONTEXT.......................................................................................................6 3. LAND USES.....................................................................................................................................8 4. CONSIDERATIONS .......................................................................................................................12 5. SUMMARY URBAN ANALYSIS ....................................................................................................15 6. DEVELOPMENT PRINCIPLES ......................................................................................................17 7 IMPLEMENTATION .......................................................................................................................34 April 2007 City of Edinburgh Council St James Quarter Development Brief determination of planning applications that come forward in 1. INTRODUCTION the area. 1.3 The development brief has also been subject to a strategic 1.1 The opportunity to consider a comprehensive approach to environmental assessment (SEA) under the Environmental the redevelopment of the St James area arises from the Scotland Act 2005. An Environmental Report, required acquisition by Henderson Global Investors (HGI) of the St under the SEA regulations, was also made available for James Shopping Centre, New St Andrew’s House, the St public comment in conjunction with a draft version of the James Thistle Hotel, and associated car parks, into a single development brief. ownership, and is the principal focus of this development brief. The brief also addresses the wider area extending to Site Description and Context Waterloo Place to the south, St Andrew Square to the west, York Place to the north and Leith Street to the east and 1.4 The St James Quarter is situated at the east end of the seeks to maximise the benefits of redevelopment to this Edinburgh City Centre Retail Core. It lies within the New wider area and the city as a whole. The redevelopment of Town Conservation Area and World Heritage Site and the area, the St James Quarter, presents an opportunity to occupies a strategic location at which three key routes in the create a quality urban environment, exploiting and City converge: George Street, North Bridge and Leith Walk. enhancing its distinctive city centre location, and to establish The height and mass of the St James Centre buildings are important connections through the site and beyond. visually prominent from many vantage points in the City. The buildings are generally regarded as unsightly and out of 1.2 The purpose of this development brief is to set out the main character with their neighbours, many of which have planning and development principles on which historical significance and architectural merit. redevelopment proposals for the area should be based. The development brief has been the subject of extensive public 1.5 The principal elements of the St James Centre are a consultation and will be a material consideration in the covered shopping mall, providing approximately 41,800 sqm April 2007 3 City of Edinburgh Council St James Quarter Development Brief gross of retail floorspace, and an office complex, now vacant. A hotel and multi-storey car parks make up the remainder of the development. 1.6 The study area plan is illustrated at Figure 1 on page 5. St James Square historic aerial view 1819 Kirkwood Plan and Elevation as built April 2007 4 City of Edinburgh Council St James Quarter Development Brief Figure 1 – St James Quarter Study Area April 2007 5 City of Edinburgh Council St James Quarter Development Brief 2. PLANNING POLICY CONTEXT • Edinburgh Standards for Streets; • Edinburgh Standards for Sustainable Building; 2.1 The Council’s planning policies for the city centre are • contained in the Edinburgh & the Lothians Structure Plan Edinburgh Skyline Study (Colvin & Moggridge 2006); (2015) (ELSP) and the Central Edinburgh Local Plan (1997) • Tram Design Manual December 2005. (CELP), which together comprise the development plan for 2.2 The Council’s planning policies for the city centre seek to the area. In addition to the development plan there are a create a diverse, thriving welcoming and successful place number of documents that will be material to the and to maintain and strengthen it as the principal focus of consideration of proposals that come forward for the activities which are integral to Edinburgh’s role and redevelopment of the shopping centre and the wider St functioning as a capital city, a regional service centre and James area, principal among these is the finalised major tourist destination. The Council seeks to maintain an Edinburgh City Local Plan (March 2007) (ECLP), which intensively developed, vibrant city centre character and to when adopted will replace the CELP. Other material this end a wide range of uses are encouraged: shopping, considerations include: cultural, leisure, entertainment, business, higher education, • Inspiring Action: the Edinburgh City Centre Action Plan civic uses and where appropriate housing. In new 2005-10; development an emphasis is placed on securing a mixture of uses, both on individual sites and in suitable locations, to • Local Transport Strategy 2007, including the Council’s foster city centre vitality. In particular, the Council supports Parking Strategy; and encourages new retail development that will enhance • The Old and New Towns of Edinburgh World Heritage Edinburgh’s regional shopping centre status. The Council Site Management Plan; also requires that special attention is paid to streets and • New Town Conservation Area Character Appraisal; public spaces and how these may be improved and made more pedestrian friendly. This is coupled with a balanced • Edinburgh Area Retail Needs Study (EARNS) 2005; April 2007 6 City of Edinburgh Council St James Quarter Development Brief approach to transport that reduces unnecessary car use, congestion and pollution. 2.3 The Council, initially in partnership with the Edinburgh City Centre Management Company and latterly with the City Centre Development Partnership (CDDP), has produced a draft City Centre Princes Street Development Framework. The purpose of the Framework is to highlight development opportunities along and between Princes Street and George Street and to raise the profile of these opportunities amongst landowners, investors and developers. The intention is that the Council and the CDDP will in due course produce a series of block and site specific development briefs and conservation plans once the Framework has been approved in a final form. 2.4 St James Centre and New St Andrew’s House lie within the New Town Conservation Area, for which a character appraisal has been prepared. It also lies within a UNESCO inscribed World Heritage Site. While the designation of the Site does not carry any additional planning powers or controls, the impact of proposed development on the Site will be a material consideration in the determination of planning applications. April 2007 7 City of Edinburgh Council St James Quarter Development Brief 3. LAND USES Figure 2 – Edinburgh’s UK ranking as a shopping centre Shopping 3.1 The development plan aims to consolidate and strengthen the role of Edinburgh City Centre as a prime leisure shopping destination of national importance and as the principal destination for comparison shopping in the east of Scotland. It also supports the expansion of retail floorspace Source: Edinburgh & Lothian Structure Plan 2015: First Biennial Monitoring where it is appropriate in scale and character to the Report environment of the City and its role as the regional shopping 3.3 Latest research from retail market analysts CACI confirms centre. More recently, the Council commissioned a retail this decline in retail fortune, estimating that the city centre needs study to provide a forecast of future retail expenditure may fall out of the top 25 British retail centres by 2008. CACI trends and the amount of new retail development that this reported that Edinburgh ‘has stood still whilst other places might support. The conclusions of this study and a general have moved forward’ and that its main streets were ‘still description of the City’s retail offer are provided below. pretty uninspiring’, in retail terms. If current trends continue, Changing Fortunes it is estimated that Edinburgh may have fallen behind a further 17 UK cities by 2008. 3.2 Recent research points to the declining fortunes of Edinburgh’s city centre. The first Biennial Monitoring Report 3.4 Whilst it would seem the lack of city centre development has of the ELSP (2005) refers to a decline in the range and been a significant contributing factor in Edinburgh’s poor quality of the retail offer, its decreasing market potential, and performance, the research acknowledges other forces have declining rental levels. influenced the relatively low ranking. In particular the study April 2007 8 City of Edinburgh Council St James Quarter Development Brief refers to pressure from out of centre retail locations as Retail Aspirations having a significant impact on the city centre. 3.6 An objective of the development plan for Edinburgh and the Lothians is to consolidate and strengthen the role of the city centre as a prime leisure shopping destination
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