An abandoned Edinburgh mansion is to be redeveloped into new apartments with two new luxury villas created.
The City of Edinburgh Council looks set to approve the plan three years after the application was first launched to redevelop the historic Redhall House.
The council’s development committee is set to meet next week on November 10 and they will recommend that the plan is granted.
The developer will create six luxury apartments in Redhall House, with a detached block for six garages, and two new build homes at the site at 7 Redhall House Drive in the Fountainbridge/Craiglockhart wards.
The B-listed property is a small country house from the 1750s, and the building was extended in the 1900s, with a large westerly four storey side extension, front porch and rear basement level extension.
The new detached villas are of two storey design, with attic accommodation and have taken their architectural and material referencing from Redhall House.
READ MORE: More Edinburgh Covid-19 deaths as Scottish Government warn over new restrictions
The building was previously owned by Edinburgh City Council for office use, prior to that its use was a children’s care home and is now under private ownership. Redhall House currently lies vacant and has been boarded up to prevent access and damage.
The ground levels within the site are relatively flat with a drop on the western boundary to Colington Dell public footpath which leads to the Water of Leith Walkway.
The developers say there is a significant risk of the Redhall House being lost if action is not taken to avert the ongoing decay and decline of the building.
They added that the conversion of the building to form six residential apartments cannot be viably undertaken without funding, which will be generated from the development of the two houses proposed within its grounds.
Over 20 locals submitted their approval of the design on the planning application.
One said: “I am an immediate neighbour, my house backs directly onto Redhall House, and I am in favour of this proposed redevelopment going ahead. The proposals appear to respect the need to fit in sympathetically to the surrounding development, and the commitment to creating and maintaining an amenity area for community use is an excellent sign of good faith from the developers.”
Another added: “I support this application because it links the restoration of Redhall House with the simultaneous development of two new houses. I have been assured by the developer that the path between Redhall House and the new detached dwelling houses will not have a lockable gate as it is a right of way and that the path I created on the north side of Redhall House Grounds will not become a right of way.”
