Chipperfield team wins approval for hotel-led revamp of Edinburgh’s Jenners store

David Chipperfield Architects has won approval for its plans, backed by Danish retail billionaire Anders Holch Povlsen, to revamp and transform the famous Jenners store in Edinburgh’s Princes StreetUnanimously approved by Edinburgh City Council’s development management subcommittee on Wednesday (June 15), the scheme would turn part of the former 17,000m² department store into a 96-bedroom boutique hotel, together with a bar and restaurant, above overhauled shopping areas.The historic 1895 building, designed by William Hamilton Beattie and often described as ‘the Harrods of the North’, was sold in 2017 to the owner of the fashion group Bestseller for £53 million.David Chipperfield Architects is working with executive architect 3DReid and Glasgow-based conservation specialist Loader Montieth and was appointed to the job in 2019.The project is backed by Anders Holch Povlsen’s property company AAA United and includes restoring the historic façade, revamping and partly remodelling the linked 1960s Princes Street building, and adding a new floor, frontage and roof terrace to 10-14 Rose Street and a single-storey roof extension to the 1895 and 1903 Jenners buildings.Under the proposal, the three-storey, top-lit grand saloon at the heart of the Victorian Renaissance Revival style will be ‘restored to its former splendour as a unique public space that is integral to both the department store and hotel’.Founded in 1838, Jenners was one of the oldest department stores in the world to continuously trade from the same site. The Category A-listed building closed its doors in May 2020 and has not reopened since.In a design and access statement lodged with the council earlier this year, AAA United director Anders Krogh said: ‘When we acquired the Jenners building, we knew that it came with a great deal of responsibility. It is iconic within Edinburgh’s built environment and integral to the city’s cultural heritage. We approach this renovation with upmost respect for the historic importance and value placed upon the building by the people of Edinburgh.He continued: ‘The original Jenners building will always stay and is the very DNA of our plans, with the redevelopment of a vibrant, sustainable and accessible department store being the heart of the project. Our major focus is to bring back a fully refurbished department store, supplemented by a food and beverage and hospitality offering.‘The grand saloon always was and will remain the primary feature of the building, situated at the centre of the department store and open for the people of Edinburgh and visitors alike to experience.‘The boutique hotel will occupy the upper levels of the building, much of which has been unused for decades.’The proposals had received the support of vocal Edinburgh heritage group the Cockburn Society, which said: ‘Over the past year the developers and their professional teams have engaged fully with [us] at all stages and shared their thinking as the proposals emerged.‘This open, positive and constructive discussion gives us the confidence that scheme proposed is well-considered, sensitive and respectively of this iconic building but also creative and exciting in both ambition and vision.’Client AAA United A/SProject manager Redside Property CompanyPrincipal architect David Chipperfield ArchitectsExecutive architect 3DReidStructural engineer Etive Consulting EngineersMEP & sustainability RybkaFire engineer OFR Fire + Risk ConsultantsConservation architect Loader Monteith ArchitectsPlanning and heritage TurleyCost manager Gardiner & TheobaldSpecialist lighting Light BureauPrincipal designer Gardner & TheobaldAcoustic consultant Sandy BrownSustainability advisor Henry LukerTransport consultant TransplanworldClient property agent Harper Dennis HobbsHotel consultant PKF hotelexperts