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USA: A £200 million project for the future of eight acres of Scottish & Newcastle’s Fountainbridge brewery site in Edinburgh has been recently revealed - including 2,500 office and retail jobs and 650 homes, according to Business Scotsman.

Fountain North Ltd, a consortium including Grosvenor, AMA (New Town) Ltd and Royal Bank of Scotland, has submitted a planning application for the development to Edinburgh City Council, the developer confirmed yesterday.

The 900,000sq ft development is planned for the north side of the site - the former kegging hall and warehousing plant for McEwans lager. It is sandwiched between Edinburgh’s West Approach Road and Fountainbridge.

Scottish & Newcastle would not disclose how much the developers had paid for the site, although industry sources say it was about £25m.

An S&N spokesman stressed yesterday that the site being redeveloped was the part which closed in late 2003 and it did not include the current brewing operations on the south side of the site, which S&N said it was closing last year and which are expected to run down by next June when production will switch to the Caledonian brewery.

The spokesman added: "Nothing has been decided [on the site of the current brewing operations]. We are discussing the future of that site with Edinburgh City Council." Fountain North said its regeneration plan would be one of the biggest-ever in Edinburgh’s city centre. It combines 160,000sq ft of offices, 650 new homes - termed both "family and city-style" - retail outlets and a public park.

The complex will be no more than six storeys in height and there are also plans for tree-lined boulevards, cycle routes and underground car parking for 650 vehicles, said Fountain North Ltd. A total of 2,500 new jobs are also envisaged, said the developer.


19 January, 2005