Royal Bank HQ

We have won a contract (our ref: 43) to join the design development team for the initial architectural design and planning department submission for The Royal Bank of Scotland’s proposed new World Head Quarters at St. James’s House in Edinburgh. We expect this design submission to take a couple of months at most, but should there be planning consent, then this may become a substantial and prestigious undertaking.

The Royal Bank of Scotland is Scotland’s biggest company and the fifth biggest bank in the world. The bank is also one of the oldest in the world, and has strong ties to the Edinburgh new town financial district where many banks and financial institutions have their head quarters. With the devolved parliament and the building of the new Scottish Parliament building, if the old Scottish Office building is demolished, the site at St. James’s is considered by many to be the perfect location for the Bank’s HQ, affording a wonderful view out over to the Forth coast at Leith.

2005-11 Edit: The proposed schemes did not go ahead, and the Bank looked elsewhere — eventually building the world famous Gogarburn Project on the west side of the Capital, applying again for planning permission in March 2002. Gogarburn was officially opened 2005 and will be populated throughout 2006.

Links:

• BBC Story of the scheme 11 Feb 2000
• RBS – Gogarburn Planning Submission March 2002
• RBS – Gogarburn Press Release September 2005
• Scotsman Newspaper article on Gogarburn
• Edinburgh Architecture.co.uk – Gogarburn

Extra words (search feature): Michael Laird, Fulcrum, Andrew Thomson, Jim Boyne.