The new 146-apartment Aparthotels Adagio overlooking Edinburgh’s Royal Mile will open for business on December 19, completing the latest phase of the city’s New Waverley development.
Linking the Royal Mile with the historic Canongate area at the heart of the city’s Old Town, the aparthotel overlooks a new football pitch-sized public square which officially opens in early December, becoming the first significant public space to open in the city centre for more than 50 years.
The impressive four-storey Adagio has been painstakingly constructed behind an existing façade of two 1930s tenement buildings overlooking the Royal Mile – one of which is the C-listed Sailors Ark building, formerly an ex-serviceman’s hostel which helped feed the city’s homeless before and after the Second World War.
Adagio’s innovative aparthotel concept has been successfully rolled out across Europe and is now being applied to some of the UK’s premier city centre destinations. Edinburgh is the third UK opening, following launches in Birmingham in 2015 and Liverpool in 2013. The aparthotel provides hotel services and fully furnished studios and one-bedroomed apartments complete with stylish kitchens and bathrooms, setting a new benchmark for high quality self-catering accommodation.
Looking forward to the December opening, Jose Gómez, General Manager of Aparthotels Adagio said: “The opening of Adagio Edinburgh Royal Mile is an important milestone in the global development of Adagio.
“With a superb position overlooking both the Royal Mile and the new public square, the aparthotel will be a major visitor draw which will reignite interest in this historic part of the Old Town. We are working with New Waverley to ensure our aparthotel reflects the area’s unique link with the history and culture of the Old Town, providing our guests with an exceptional base from which to enjoy this fantastic city and surrounding area.”
New Waverley’s new public square is set to become home to a host of marketing and arts-based activities aimed at increasing visitor interest and footfall to this previously neglected part of the city centre.
The square is linked to the Royal Mile by a cleverly designed covered walkway inspired by the Old Town’s historic ‘Wynds’. As well as reflecting the area’s unique World Heritage setting, The Wynd has been designed so it gradually increases in size as it joins the public square, opening up a spectacular view corridor from the Royal Mile across the Waverley Valley towards Calton Hill.
The launch of the aparthotel and new public square heralds New Waverley’s next construction phase, which will include more cafes, restaurants and shops surrounding the new public square. This phase will also include around 148 new homes and approximately 180,000 sq. ft. of Grade A office space, due to open in 2017.
The £150 million New Waverley development is being led by Artisan Real Estate Investors. Completed so far as part of the first development phase are two Whitbread Premier Inn hotels which opened in January 2016, and The Arches, a row of Victorian arches which have been transformed to create an exciting new leisure and retail district for the city.
Artisan Project Director, Clive Wilding added: “The combination of the aparthotel and new public square provides a brilliant new addition to the Old Town and continues the significant momentum New Waverley has created in the city centre since we started construction less than two years ago.
“At the start of the year we opened two Premier Inn hotels and, together with the huge interest in The Arches, we are seeing life, excitement and vibrancy returning to this wonderful but neglected part of the city.
“The opening of the Aparthotels Adagio and new public square creates the perfect platform on which to launch our next commercial construction phase. This will see high quality office provision, new homes and more hospitality and retailers complete this unique integrated development, sitting at the heart of one of the most historic and environmentally sensitive areas to be found anywhere in the world.”