Sugarhouse Close, Edinburgh

Sugarhouse Close, Edinburgh

Client: Watkin Jones Group
Architect: Oberlanders Architects LLP
Cost: £5.2m

Part refurbishment and part new build student residency accommodation of approx. 300 bedrooms.  The Sugarhouse Close development is formed from a number of different buildings including listed buildings and a number of listed facades.  These buildings were sensitively remodelled to provide student accommodation in both studio and cluster flat format.  In addition, 21 completely new blocks were constructed using a sympathetic palette suitable for the Edinburgh World Heritage Site location.  These new structures were constructed using steel frame for ease of speed of construction in a congested city centre site off the Royal Mile.  The topography of the site was particularly challenging with a two storey change in level at the centre of the site which had to be accommodated in the existing listed building.