City of Edinburgh Council’s development sub-committee has unanimously granted consent for Artisan’ proposals to develop the historic Caledonian Brewery site in Shandon into a residential neighbourhood with 168 homes.
Sitting at the western edge of Edinburgh’s city centre, the Caledonian Brewery was the capital’s last major brewery prior to closure in 2022. The brewery was founded in 1869 by George Lorimer and Robert Clark and its B-listed Victorian buildings provide a reminder of the city’s once extensive brewing heritage.
Artisan Real Estate managing director for Scotland, David Westwater, said: “This is a hugely exciting opportunity to breathe new life into a complex and historically important city centre site, providing a high-quality mix of new homes and affordable housing in line with the council’s policy to help tackle the city’s housing emergency.
“Artisan’s UK-wide expertise as a regeneration specialist will now deliver a sustainable new residential community in an accessible city centre location that will respect, preserve and enhance the rich history of the Caledonian Brewery. Working closely with our heritage experts, we have unravelled the different layers of history and development which have governed the evolution of the site. This has been a model design approach to a very complex and challenging site bringing together a mix of buildings developed at different stages during the last 150 years.
“From the very start, Artisan placed the preservation of the site’s unique heritage right at the heart of our approach, creating a distinctive footprint which both reflects the brewery’s historical legacy whilst creating a high-quality and well-connected urban neighbourhood which promises to set new standards for city centre living.”
Approximately a fifth of the flats will be housed in the existing listed buildings, which will be preserved and repurposed. Additional development proposals will respect the original footprint of the brewery – including recreating the skyline of the maltings buildings which was demolished following a fire almost 30 years ago.
Most of the listed buildings on the site date from the late 19th to early 20th century and were constructed using red brick with white brick dressings. The existing brewhouse and maltings were built in 1892 following designs by Edinburgh architect Robert Hamilton Paterson, who also designed the Royal Scots War Memorial in the city’s St Giles Cathedral.
The brewery currently houses a vast amount of brewing equipment, including what was the last remaining direct fired ‘coppers’ to be used in the UK. According to the developer, these have been attracting the interest of independent breweries across the world. As part of the redevelopment plans, Artisan intends to ‘upcycle’ as much of the internal equipment as possible, allowing the Caledonian Brewery’s significant technical legacy to continue to play a part in today’s brewing industry.
The previous operators of the brewery, Heineken UK, invited bids for the site in 2022. A spokesperson for Heineken UK said: “The Caledonian Brewery has been an integral part of Edinburgh’s brewing history and the local community for more than 150 years. We were keen that the legacy of the brewery was maintained and contributed positively to the local community.
“Having received several bids for the site, we believed that Artisan’s plans to deliver a 100% residential scheme delivered the best outcome for the community as well as meeting the Council’s ambitions in terms of delivering sustainable housing. We are pleased that the planning consent has now been granted for this exciting city centre neighbourhood to progress which is set to preserve the brewery’s legacy for future generations.”
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