Summerhall redevelopment proposals in Edinburgh are open for comment, with the first round of consultation closing on 23rd October 2026. Developer AMA (New Town) Limited is exploring a mix of arts space, a hotel and living accommodation at the former veterinary college beside the Meadows. No planning application has yet been submitted.
For neighbours, artists and people who use the venue, the important question is how much of Summerhall’s cultural life and historic fabric would survive the changes. The emerging ideas include replacing some buildings, adapting others and opening new routes through the complex. The final design and balance of uses remain undecided.
I would use this stage to ask what the proposals would actually deliver for the people who live and work around Summerhall. Calling it an Arts Quarter is a starting point, but the useful detail is which spaces stay, who can use them and how their future would be secured. Feedback now goes to the developer, ahead of a later council application.
Summerhall redevelopment: what is being explored?
The developer’s proposals present four options rather than a settled scheme. They envisage retaining an arts centre within the main building, introducing a hotel towards Hope Park Terrace and creating another block for living accommodation. Student accommodation, co-living and serviced apartments are among the possibilities. None should be read as a confirmed number of permanent homes.
The hotel concept includes retaining the laboratory tower and replacing an adjoining block to create additional space. The living accommodation concept would replace the clinic and animal research laboratory block and parts of the old small animals clinic. Other historic buildings would largely remain, with changes to their use and connections.
Summerhall redevelopment could also change how people move through the site. The proposals show more routes, active ground-floor uses and changes around Summerhall Square. I would look closely at the entrances and opening arrangements: a route shown on a drawing only helps the neighbourhood if people can actually use it.
Heritage questions go beyond the front of a building
The site context material identifies the complex as category B listed and within the South Side Conservation Area. The former Hope Park and Buccleuch Congregational Church is separately listed. These are Scottish designations, and the project needs to be assessed within Scotland’s planning and heritage framework.
AMA says its consultants have undertaken a heritage appraisal and structural survey. A fuller heritage impact assessment is intended to support the forthcoming application. That future assessment will matter because the consultation includes both retention and selective demolition, rather than repairs alone.
The history is visible in the variety of buildings on the site. The former veterinary school later became a mixed arts and commercial complex, with performance, hospitality and other activities. Summerhall redevelopment therefore raises questions about the relationships between buildings, courtyards and uses, as well as individual architectural features.
I would ask the team to explain why each proposed removal is necessary and what alternatives were considered. An assertion that a building is difficult to adapt needs supporting evidence. Equally, keeping a façade does not by itself explain how the character of a place or its working spaces would be preserved.
The arts offer needs practical detail
The Cockburn Association has published initial comments on the consultation. It welcomes the ambition in principle but asks for arts and cultural activities to remain central, for a heritage-led approach and for scrutiny of the residential elements.
Its response says: “The eventual mix of uses should demonstrate how a viable and substantial long-term arts presence will be secured.”
That is a useful test for Summerhall redevelopment. A room labelled as arts space tells us little about rents, access, operating arrangements or whether it suits the people expected to use it. Those questions should help turn a broad vision into a proposal that can be assessed.
The association also encourages exploration of permanent homes, including affordable housing, in the context of Edinburgh’s housing emergency. That is its position on the emerging scheme. The consultation material does not establish an agreed permanent housing offer, so I would avoid treating every form of living accommodation as an interchangeable answer to housing need.
How to comment before 23rd October
The first drop-in event took place on 7th October 2026. People who missed it can still use the consultation website or email [email protected] before the first-round deadline on 23rd October. The site also provides the consultation boards and details of the project team.
For a useful Summerhall redevelopment response, identify a particular building, route or activity and explain the effect you are concerned about. A neighbour might focus on daylight, servicing or construction arrangements. An artist or operator could explain the space, access and facilities needed to continue an activity.
I would separate what you support from what you want changed, then ask a clear question where information is missing. That gives the team something specific to answer and makes it easier to check whether the next version addresses your concern. Keep a copy of your response.
A later council consultation will be a separate opportunity
The published timetable provisionally places a second event on 11th November, with that date still to be confirmed, and a second-round deadline on 27th November 2026. Further review is expected in December and January, before an anticipated detailed application in early 2027.
The project’s questions and answers expressly distinguish current feedback to AMA from representations to the City of Edinburgh Council. If an application is submitted, residents will have another opportunity to comment through the council’s planning process.
Summerhall redevelopment remains a proposal at this point. There is no verified construction programme or planning permission for this emerging scheme. The next meaningful test is whether revised plans explain the building changes and provide a credible, detailed arts offer alongside the other uses.
Our Scotland planning section explains the separate jurisdiction. The current Historic Environment Policy for Scotland consultation is a separate national policy exercise, not an approval of this project.
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