City of Edinburgh Council has brought forward plans by Collective Architecture to repair, redevelop, and landscape the Category B-listed Powderhall Stables at 165 Broughton Road (20/03162/FUL).
The aim is to produce affordable work, artist-studio, and event spaces, with an emphasis on flexible uses indoors and outside, by the end of next year.
The proposals include two function rooms with catering facilities, and an exterior square – accessed through the central pend – suitable for markets and events. Brace for Christmas 2021.
A (yet-to-be appointed) commercial operator will administer the block, which will eventually form the centrepiece for a Powderhall development of 200 new homes and nursery.
The Powderhall Refuse Depot was built in 1893 to a design by City Engineer John Cooper. Use of the Baronial block as 20 stables ceased in the 1950s. An interesting site history – including the location’s 17th-century use as a gunpowder factory – is available here.
It notes: ‘The building has been an active presence on Broughton Road for the last 125 years, and its recent vacant state and boarding-up of fenestration is having a significant negative impact on the surrounding area.
‘It is imperative that this is addressed as a mater of urgency to prevent further deterioration of the building and to find a new purpose, which is fitting for the building and which will provide a sustainable income stream moving forward.’
Spurtle welcomes the proposal, and looks forward to seeing this characterful structure usefully reinvigorated.
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