This historic building located on Princes Street previously housed the Royal Overseas Club. The building has undergone an extensive renovation with sensitively designed internal structural alterations and additions to create Edinburgh’s newest luxury hotel – winner for the Best Project in Leisure at the Scottish Structural Awards 2024.

New steel and timber structures to strengthen the existing building were threaded between existing structural members and kept hidden where possible to maximise floor space and head height. Structural interventions were required to add robustness and strength back into the historic building whilst retaining listed features such as the grand entrance staircase. Refurbishment of lifts and addition of actuated stairs greatly improved the accessibility of the building and detailed coordination between structures and services allowed a modern mechanical ventilation system to be installed through load bearing masonry walls. A new two storey steel framed fire escape corridor was erected above the existing flat roof at the rear of the building. This involved casting a new concrete ring beam on the head of existing masonry shear walls to stabilise the existing structure and provide stability to the new steel frame.

Sustainable aspects focused upon were primarily the reuse of the existing building structure as far as possible and the introduction of modern, energy efficient, heating and cooling systems. It’s estimated that 80% of the UK’s buildings in 2050 are already standing today (Net Zero Estate Playbook, UK Gov PF) and we want to preserve our existing buildings, cultural heritage and leave a legacy for future generations.