The Haymarket

Contract Value

£45M

Area

50,000 sqm. of offices and 7,500 sqm. of retail

Completion

2001

Architects - Reiach and Hall Architects

Engineers - Cundall Johnston and Partners

Landscape Architects - Ian White Associates

Cost Consultants - GLEEDS

Development Consultants - Montagu Evans

Edinburgh is blessed with an incomparable cityscape - a medieval old town clustered around a castle rock and a classically planned Georgian New town set apart but looking back to the Old town across a landscaped valley. In order to preserve what makes Edinburgh delightful, yet to provide the city (which is a significant international financial services centre, as well as being the country's capital) with the accommodation that a city in the 21st Century requires, development is happening away from the traditional centre.

Reviewing the Boundary

Over the last 10 years Edinburgh’s recognition as a major European centre “reviewing its boundary” has forced sites to be reconsidered. With the success of the “Exchange” district, the Edinburgh International Conference Centre (EICC), the development of the new Parliament and as far south as the Royal Infirmary site - the commercial centre is changing & expanding. The Haymarket is pivotal in this process.

The Haymarket

The Haymarket is on the edge of a World Heritage site. It is technically demanding with the main Edinburgh – Glasgow railway lines running underneath the site. It offers a complete new public realm and will lead to the creation of a new office area for the city. The Haymarket creates 50,000 sqm. of offices and 7,500 sqm. of retail. The project has variety of uses with a scale and mass appropriate with a new City Block. The Haymarket brings 3 major Scottish Architects together in a phased development responding to a collective masterplan.

The City Block

The Haymarket as a whole is seen simply as a new city block, developed to a scale of five to six storeys and follows the line of the street extending the discipline and power of the 19th Century New Town elevations. The vehicular & pedestrian approach to the city centre is consolidated and emphasised by this new city scale building. The adoption of the simple concept of creating a city block also allows the Haymarket Station an opportunity to realize more clearly its centric role and position within the Haymarket. The station is the keynote activity in the area while the new city block contains and creates the activity of the “street”. The railway tunnels are absorbed and accommodated by this straightforward approach.

The Arcade & Central Plaza

The Haymarket Arcade and central plaza are primary elements of the City Block. The Arcade is generous - 12m wide and 7 storeys high voids provide a covered route connecting the Haymarket toward the EICC and Exchange area. The Arcade and Plaza are covered over - they are not conditioned as in a shopping mall. They are a positive, generous addition and extension of the public realm. Rich mellow interiors are animated with dramatic daylight elements. Shop fronts are in timber and bronze, the floor in natural materials. The Arcade is lined with retail units, cafés and restaurants. These can spill out onto the arcade.

The Courts

While the arcade is seen as a saturated, dense space in terms of colour, materials, movement, rhythms, smells etc the courts which open off the arcade will have their own individual appeal. The courts opening off the arcade will serve large multi-occupied office buildings. The court is centred on a simple pool open to the sky. The emphasis is on a refined tailored environment executed on a restricted palette of materials which reveal the generous scale of the spaces.