The Royal High School Preservation Trust (RHSPT) has received planning permission from Edinburgh City Council for its multi-million-pound redevelopment of the Thomas Hamilton Building on Regent Road. 

RHSPT, responsible for conserving and protecting the Thomas Hamilton building, was granted planning permission on Tuesday 23 July, to redevelop the iconic Edinburgh landmark into a brand-new cultural destination and create a vital resource for music-making in Scotland. 

Once complete, the much loved Thomas Hamilton Building will include three intimate performance spaces, rehearsal rooms and a recording studio providing a centre for Scotland’s diverse music sector to collaborate and build on the rich Scottish tradition of music and performance.

New gardens and outdoor areas, a café, conference and business facilities and a vaulted bar will open up the place for everyone – not just music lovers to enjoy from the unique vistas and soak up the sense of history and importance of the Thomas Hamilton Building. 

Thomas Hamilton Building

Grant MacKenzie, Executive Director of the Royal High School Preservation Trust, said: “Receiving planning permission to begin making our vision for the building a reality is a milestone moment in our project’s journey.  

“The Royal High School is both architecturally and culturally significant for Edinburgh, and we’re grateful to Edinburgh City Council for allowing us to bring it back into public use as an exciting indoor and outdoor cultural destination.” 

Funding for the redevelopment is led by a small consortium of philanthropic contributors. 

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John graduated from Telford College in 2010 with an HNC in Practical Journalism and since then he worked for the North Edinburgh News, The Southern Reporter, the Irish News Review and The Edinburgh Reporter. In addition he has been published in the Edinburgh Evening News and the Hibernian FC Programme.