Work underway on boutique Edinburgh hotel as contractor named

Development company S Harrison has appointed Sharkey as the principal contractor to transform a historic Edinburgh building into the latest boutique hotel for Malmaison Hotel du Vin Group.Grade A-listed Buchan House is located in a prime position on St Andrew Square in the heart of Edinburgh’s New Town. The work will transform it into a 72 bedroom Malmaison hotel complete with Chez Mal Bar and Brasserie.York-based S Harrison has also now signed a forward funding agreement, with an end value in excess of £25 million, with a FTSE 100 pension fund to finance the development.When the 72-bedroom hotel opens in 2019, it will be the second Malmaison in the city and will create approximately 50 new jobs. The building’s period features will be restored and Malmaison will inject its distinctive, stylish aesthetic to make Buchan House a unique hotel offering within the famous Georgian architecture of the New Town.The new hotel will complement the popular Malmaison Edinburgh Leith, which famously occupies the site of a former “house of ill-repute”, and was the first ever Malmaison to open in 1994. It also marks the latest development in a period of significant growth and investment for the brand.S Harrison has built a strong and growing presence in Edinburgh following its successful £23m redevelopment of a site on Leith Walk in 2016. The site was formerly part of Edinburgh’s original Botanic Gardens and was transformed into a 240-bedroom, student accommodation scheme. The firm has also recently bought two other sites in the Leith and Haymarket areas of the city and continues to explore other opportunities in the area.S Harrison was advised by the Edinburgh offices of Ryden and Brodies. The fund was represented by CMS, D2 Property and Christie & Co.