In a week or two a couple of the cranes at Edinburgh St James will begin to come down, signalling the beginning of the end of the biggest development in town. Parts of the £1 billion development will be handed over to the developers in twelve months’ time.

PHOTO ©2019 The Edinburgh Reporter

We went along today to have a look and with the exciting mix of residential and retail this will be a destination on what Martin Perry, Director of Development at Edinburgh St James, calls the ‘circuit’. This begins at the West End and is the route which eventually comes to St James through Multrees Walk and then spills back out onto Princes Street again.

The shopping galleria is under this curved roof where glass will be installed in the coming days PHOTO ©2019 The Edinburgh Reporter

Watch out for our interview with the boss of the biggest mixed use development Edinburgh has ever seen in the next day or two.

The 1.7 million square feet will be occupied by retail such as Next, Zara and Mango, with a luxury Roomzzz aparthotel and the city’s first W Hotel which is beginning to take shape over 12 storeys.

There are 152 apartments, some of which enjoy spectacular views to the Forth, the city’s first Everyman cinema, 30 new restaurants and 85 new shops. The shops we saw are average sized units and not the huge 37,000 square feet that Zara will move into.

Walkways and some of the common areas are almost complete PHOTO ©2019 The Edinburgh Reporter

The affordable homes part of the development is being built at Beaverbank Place by Dunedin Canmore.

Martin Perry commented: “With a year to go, it’s extremely exciting to see the significant progress made since starting on site three years ago. Edinburgh St James will reflect Edinburgh’s position as a city with a thriving economy and unique appeal, with Mango choosing the city for its first store in Scotland – a testament as to why Edinburgh St James is great for the city. We look forward to making further announcements about progress on site ahead of the first phase of opening in October 2020”.

3,000 permanent full time jobs will be on offer at this development when it is complete and there have been up to 5,000 construction jobs created during the build phase.

Shops, apartments, hotel and self catering hotel will be side by side in the Edinburgh St James development PHOTO ©2019 The Edinburgh Reporter
Phyllis Stephen
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Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.