Look inside new Edinburgh Festival Fringe headquarters set to open for 2026

Fringe Central, in a former school on Infirmary Street, will become home to an official festival archive and research library, as well as a new base for the Fringe Society to run its year-round advice, support, marketing and box office services, once an £8 million refurbishment is complete.

Set to open in spring, in time for next year’s Fringe, a video released by the Fringe Society shows how original tiling on the staircases throughout the whole building is in the process of being renovated, with layers of paint put on over decades painstakingly removed. Original flooring has also been uncovered and is being restored, as well as the large glass partitions created in 1886, which were hidden behind plasterboard for the past 70 years.

Unaware of the panels’ existence, they were uncovered during initial works and work stopped for the design to be redrawn to include the partitions.

The original windows have been replaced with like for like, historically accurate replicas with double glazing, while new entrances allowing level access have been created and insulation installed. A new lift will allow access to all three floors.

The building will include four flexible use spaces, as well as office space for Fringe staff and a public Changing Places toilet facility.

“One of the most exciting things about this refurb was finding historical artifacts we didn’t even know existed,” said facilities manager Ronan Sweeney, project lead for Fringe Central.

“As well as a new home for the Fringe Society, what we also wanted to offer in this building is a home for the artists who live in Edinburgh throughout the year, Edinburgh the community itself and other small charity groups who we work in partnership with.”

Edinburgh City Council agreed a peppercorn rent for the B-listed building ahead of the year-long construction project.

The hub - which performers, companies, journalists and industry delegates will use in August - is also expected to offer affordable year-round rehearsal, workshop and desk space for artists and cultural organisations in the city.

First announced in 2017 as part of a blueprint for the Fringe’s future, the project was given a huge boost when it secured a £7m funding pledge in the 2023 UK Budget. The Government later agreed to reallocate £1m of the £7m it had pledged to allow the Fringe Society to expand an artists’ support fund, which was launched by Fleabag star Phoebe Waller-Bridge, for another two years.

The funding gap created by that agreement was later bridged by a £1m "legacy gift" from the Foyle Foundation, which has distributed almost £65m to arts charities across the UK since 2001. Meanwhile, power company SP Energy Networks agreed to provide a further £250,000 from a "net zero fund" which supports building decarbonisation projects.