Work on new £69m Edinburgh music centre to begin within months as National Lottery backing secured

Revamp of former Royal High School building set due for completion in 2027

Harpist Esther Swift at the former Royal High School on Calton Hill, in Edinburgh, where the National Centre for Music will be created.Harpist Esther Swift at the former Royal High School on Calton Hill, in Edinburgh, where the National Centre for Music will be created.
Harpist Esther Swift at the former Royal High School on Calton Hill, in Edinburgh, where the National Centre for Music will be created. | Supplied

An arts philanthropist's charity revamping one of Edinburgh's best-known landmarks is to seek more public money after National Lottery funding was ring-fenced for the project for the first time.

A long-awaited transformation of the former Royal High School on Calton Hill into a National Centre for Music and indoor concert venue will begin within months after a £5 million pledge was secured from the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

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National Centre for Music creative director Jenny Jamison, Royal High School Preservation Trust chair Carol Nimmo, Caroline Clark, Scotland director at the National Lottery Heritage Fund and musician Esther Swift at the former Royal High School on Calton Hill. National Centre for Music creative director Jenny Jamison, Royal High School Preservation Trust chair Carol Nimmo, Caroline Clark, Scotland director at the National Lottery Heritage Fund and musician Esther Swift at the former Royal High School on Calton Hill.
National Centre for Music creative director Jenny Jamison, Royal High School Preservation Trust chair Carol Nimmo, Caroline Clark, Scotland director at the National Lottery Heritage Fund and musician Esther Swift at the former Royal High School on Calton Hill. | Supplied

The £69m revamp of the city council-owned building, which will have three indoor performance spaces, is expected to be unveiled in the summer of 2027.

Both the council and the Scottish Government will be asked to help bridge a final £8.5m funding gap on the project, which will see the creation of the biggest new city centre public gardens for more than 200 years.

The former Royal High School on Calton Hill in Edinburgh is earmarked for a new National Centre for Music. The former Royal High School on Calton Hill in Edinburgh is earmarked for a new National Centre for Music.
The former Royal High School on Calton Hill in Edinburgh is earmarked for a new National Centre for Music. | Richard Murphy Architects

It is hoped more than 290,000 visitors a year will visit the Regent Road site, which will boast spectacular views of Edinburgh's Old Town and Arthur's Seat.

The former Royal High School on Calton Hill in Edinburgh is earmarked for a new National Centre for Music. The former Royal High School on Calton Hill in Edinburgh is earmarked for a new National Centre for Music.
The former Royal High School on Calton Hill in Edinburgh is earmarked for a new National Centre for Music. | Supplied

All forms of music are expected to be embraced in the new centre, which will be largely bankrolled by Scotland's biggest arts philanthropist, Carol Grigor, through her long-running Dunard Fund charity. Music groups and organisations are expected to use the new centre for collaborating, rehearsing, recording and performing.

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The former Royal High School on Calton Hill in Edinburgh is earmarked for a new National Centre for Music. The former Royal High School on Calton Hill in Edinburgh is earmarked for a new National Centre for Music.
The former Royal High School on Calton Hill in Edinburgh is earmarked for a new National Centre for Music. | Richard Murphy Architects

The UK and the Scottish governments, as well as the city council, have already invested £25m for a separate Dunard Fund-backed project creating a new 1,000-capacity indoor concert hall near St Andrew Square.

Ms Grigor has been pursuing a musical vision for the A-listed former school building since 2015, when the Dunard Fund emerged as a major backer of plans for a new home for St Mary's Music School and a 300-capacity concert hall.

The former Royal High School on Calton Hill in Edinburgh is earmarked for a new National Centre for Music. The former Royal High School on Calton Hill in Edinburgh is earmarked for a new National Centre for Music.
The former Royal High School on Calton Hill in Edinburgh is earmarked for a new National Centre for Music. | Supplied

Her project was initially put forward as an alternative to controversial proposals for a luxury hotel, which were eventually rejected by both the city council and the Scottish Government.

The proposed National Centre for Music was added to the music school proposals in September 2021 after the council put the building onto the open market.

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The former Royal High School on Calton Hill in Edinburgh is earmarked for a new National Centre for Music. The former Royal High School on Calton Hill in Edinburgh is earmarked for a new National Centre for Music.
The former Royal High School on Calton Hill in Edinburgh is earmarked for a new National Centre for Music. | Supplied

The Royal High School Preservation Trust, which was created to pursue the Dunard Fund’s ambitions for the site, secured planning permission and a final lease agreement with the council by 2023. However, the project was forced to return to the drawing board months later due to its soaring costs.

Plans to create new buildings St Mary's were dropped in favour of a new vision focusing on the original 1829 building designed by architect William Henry Playfair.

The latest plans for the site include an £8.4m project to create new gardens, which will be open to the public throughout the year. They will host pop-up venues and outdoor performances during the summer.

Carol Nimmo, chair of the Royal High School Preservation Trust, was previously involved in a campaign against the building being turned into a luxury hotel.

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She said: "The alternative use for the building at that time was to be a new home for St Mary's Music School, which seemed like an easy fit. But after Covid with the increased cost of construction, it would just have been too difficult and expensive to do.

"The silver lining is that we have now got this whole gem of a building, in its entirety, for the project, with the added benefit of the wonderful gardens that are going to surround it. The project has been a long time coming, but it feels like we have got to the perfect pitch point now.

"We're also almost at the end of all the drawing and designing, and going on to the building work, so this funding award could not have come at a better time. The redevelopment work should take around two years. It is a lot simpler now there are no longer going to be any new buildings.”

The Dunard Fund has committed £45m to the construction work, with a further £10m pledged for an endowment fund to help pay for repairs and maintenance.

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Fundraising campaigns have raised a further £10.5m to date, while the National Lottery Heritage Fund has committed an initial £437,046 and ring-fenced a further £4,562,147 if final proposals are backed.

Ms Nimmo added: "What this support from the National Lottery Heritage Trust does is really validate the project. I'm sure it will encourage other donors to come in because of the rigour of the process and our ambitions for the building.

"We are speaking to the Scottish Government and the city council. I'm sure this new validation will encourage them to support us. We would obviously like them to give towards the development to make sure that we get there.

"This a fantastic, iconic building, which has been sitting dormant for more than 50 years. It's been hiding in plain sight."

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Caroline Clark, director for Scotland at the National Lottery Heritage Fund, said: "There have been a lot of different attempts to do something with this building, which is testament to how important it is.

"But this is the project where we can really see a community and public benefit, which is really attuned to what the school was before. It will be an inspirational learning centre, which will allow all sorts of different music organisations to get involved.

"We often see a real mix of different funding for projects that we support, but the level of private commitment for this project is exceptional. Post-Covid, arts organisations need that kind of philanthropic heft to get things going. Maybe other people will be inspired by this project, which really shows what can happen."

Jenny Jamison, who was appointed creative director of the National Centre for Music last year, said: "We will be engaging with the sector, artists and audiences across Scotland to see what people want this building to do for them in future.

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"A really big thing for me is to make sure that we want to be multi-genre. There is perhaps a bit of a perception that we will be classical first, which is maybe down to how the building looks, as it has a certain sense of grandeur.

"We really want to make sure we support every type of music-making and make the building as welcoming as possible to anyone who wants to experience music here. It is a building for everybody."

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